


War is Hell

by cheshire6845



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Death of supporting characters, Doctor Regina, F/F, Soldier Emma, War, no magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-02 01:38:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshire6845/pseuds/cheshire6845
Summary: As a doctor working in a combat hospital, Regina just wanted to save lives. She never thought her desire to help would lead to her aiming a gun at the enemy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfic for OUAT and a book series titled "Echo Company" written by Ellen Emerson White writing as Zack Emerson. The major plot points in this story come from Books 3-4 in the series. I read these books back in the 90's when they were first published and loved them. Still own very battered copies of them. 
> 
> There will be supporting character deaths in this story, and by supporting characters, I mean anyone that isn't Regina or Emma is fair game. 
> 
> The story will be posted in parts but it is completed so no worries there. 
> 
> I feel like I'm forgetting something else I wanted to say up front but I'll add it later if I think of it. Hope you enjoy.

Regina only sort of regretted going out tonight. She shouldn’t have gone out; she should have stayed in and slept, and yet, it hadn’t taken much to convince her. It had been a hell of a month and despite the fatigue from it, despite having to be up in just a few short hours to go again, she’d needed to unwind. They all had.

_Three weeks of an all-out offensive had worn everyone and everything down. The soldiers were running low on ammunition, the hospitals needed everything from blood to bandages, hell even the trucks and gear were breaking down. But the generals kept pushing, wanting to reach some previously designated point on the map before September. So, the soldiers kept fighting and the doctors kept operating as the wounded poured in._

_The receiving ward never closed. There were moments of sanity when it was momentarily calm and some orderly or volunteer would push coffee and a protein bar into Regina’s hands. She’d chug the coffee as she hurried to the latrine. If there was time after those two necessities were met, she’d chew her way through the protein bar. Sometimes she had time, sometimes she found two or three bars tucked into her pockets that she’d never managed to eat._

_Every day, multiple times a day, the chief of staff would come through the ward. Regina didn’t know how she knew, but the woman had an uncanny ability to determine who was dead on their feet and who had a few more hours left in their tank. She forced whoever needed a break to walk away, take a shower, and get at least four hours rack time. She preferred they get a hot meal during that time, too, but it wasn’t a requirement._

_After three weeks of 24/7 operations, Regina didn’t quite know what to do with herself as she walked unhurried back from the latrine. It had been two hours since their last arrival of wounded. The longest break they’d had. As she approached the receiving doors, she saw Zelena, one of her fellow doctors, smoking at the corner of the building and changed direction to join her._

_The redhead looked up tiredly as Regina approached, her fiery hair tied back and her blue eyes less vibrant than usual. She offered Regina the cigarette and snorted when the brunette actually accepted and took a drag off it. “Bloody hell, Mills,” she complained, “if I’d known you were actually smoking again, I wouldn’t have offered.”_

_Regina smirked, relishing the hit of nicotine hitting her lungs with the familiarity of a past lover. She exhaled slowly and reluctantly handed the cigarette back to the other doctor. She gestured at the dark-haired orderly slumped against Zelena’s shoulder apparently passed out. “Is he all right?”_

_“He’s just as sane as you or I,” Zelena exhaled smoke in his face. He barely twitched; she shrugged. “He’s probably got another five minutes before Midas notices he’s missing.”_

_“You’re kidding yourself if you think the captain hasn’t already noticed,” Regina said. Technically, she and Zelena were both captains as well, provisional ranks granted to them while in service, but Midas and the chief were the only real officers. Regina stuffed her hands in her pockets and found a protein bar. Reluctantly, she withdrew it and tore the wrapper off._

_“Are you really going to eat that?” Zelena grimaced._

_Regina tried hard not to examine too closely the food she consumed in order to stay on her feet. They did the job. One day when she got back to the real world, she’d worry about eating healthier. She bit off a hunk of the bar and offered the rest to Zelena. The redhead curled her lip in disgust as she grudgingly pinched off a portion and stuck it in her mouth. They chewed in silence, a necessity for the nutritional snack as it took some effort to ingest. Regina broke the bottom half of the bar in two pieces and kicked the orderly in the foot. “Jefferson, wake up!”_

_The man sat upright, his thick dark hair tufted up on his head from where he’d run his hands through it too many times. “What?!”_

_She offered him the snack. “Midas is looking for you. Better get back inside.”_

_He grunted as he got to his feet, his neck popping as he rolled his head from one side to the other. “What about the Dragon? Has she made her rounds yet?”_

_“Haven’t seen her, but she’s due anytime,” Regina answered. A person couldn’t keep time based on when Mal, the chief of staff, would make her rounds, but she always came around twice a day. The longer you worked at the hospital the more you developed a radar for when she’d show up, and Regina had been at the hospital a month longer than Mal._

_“In that case, I wouldn’t want to be late.” Jefferson popped the last bit of protein bar in his mouth and headed towards the doors._

_Zelena patted the vacant seat next to her. Regina scanned the skies for any sign of incoming; she’d hate to sit down only to jump right back up. Deeming the skies clear for the moment, she dropped heavily next to the redhead incredibly tempted to rest her head on the woman’s shoulder as Jefferson had._

_“I saw Ruby earlier,” Zelena said referring to one of the medevac pilots. “She said there was talk of a ceasefire; maybe, this is it.”_

_Regina hummed noncommittally. “Is that all she said?” Knowing Ruby, it wasn’t._

_“She said if we go six hours without a new wave of incoming, there will definitely be a party tonight.”_

_Regina snorted. “If we don’t have any incoming, the only party I will be attending is the one where my head hits the pillow.”_

_Zelena’s lips twisted upwards into a wicked smile. “We’ll see about that.”_

Regina’s head was buzzing as she stripped down to her sports bra and boy shorts, leaving a trail of clothes across her small room as she stumbled to her cot. She slapped at the alarm clock propped up on a crate and knew she’d only get four hours sleep before it started blaring. She threw back her sleeping bag, crawled in, and was asleep in seconds. If she was lucky, she’d be too tired to dream.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was hot.

No, that wasn’t accurate enough.

It was _fucking_ hot.

An itchy bead of sweat escaped Emma’s hairline and trailed down her cheek. She brushed it back with an angry swipe of her hand, before settling the night binos back against the bridge of her nose. Her eyes felt gritty and she couldn’t decide if it was from lack of sleep or because she actually had grit lodged in them. Could be either, could be both.

“Coming up,” a harsh whisper sounded behind her making her flinch.

She exhaled as a body slid into the narrow crevice beside her. “Fucking hell, Neal.”

He grinned a Cheshire cat grin at her before giving the area a quick scan of his own. “Would you rather I said nothing?”

“If you did, you’d find my knife in your throat.” She was known a little too well for having serious combat reactions.

“Exactly.” If he snuck up on her, she’d kill him. If he alerted her, it pissed her off. Out of the two, he knew which option he preferred. “Anything going on?”

“No, it’s quiet,” she said, handing over the binos.

“Too quiet?”

Emma shrugged. “First quiet night we’ve had in a month. Not sure I know what too quiet is anymore.”

“Charming said we might have a ceasefire for a few days.”

The blonde snorted; she’d believe that only when it happened. “He say anything else?”

Their sergeant wasn’t the most talkative guy in their squad, that would be Jones, but he did usually share with them as much as he was told from the higher ups. Sometimes that was oversharing, sometimes it was obvious HQ didn’t tell the troops on the ground anything they didn’t already know.

“If there is a ceasefire, we’ll stay in place for a couple of days, just run some patrols.”

Staying in place was both a blessing and a curse. It meant more sleep, much needed downtime for food, weapons maintenance, and a slight break from the mental pressures of constant fighting. It was also dangerous if the enemy knew exactly where they were.

“Gotta figure the bad guys need a breather, too,” Neal added with a bit of forced optimism.

“Yeah,” Emma agreed without really believing it. “Any word on our casualties?”

That morning’s firefight had seen them medevac two of their own out. A well-placed mortar had landed inside their perimeter. Emma had helped carry one of the litters out to the medevac chopper; she was pretty sure Merida wouldn’t survive.

“Pan didn’t make it,” Neal said soberly.

Fuck. They’d done everything they could to protect the kid who’d lied about his age just so he could fight. He’d lasted longer than Emma thought he would when she’d first met him. Then again, he’d grown up fast and a little darker and twisted because of it. “Probably for the best,” Emma muttered. “He would have never made it back in the world.”

“That’s dark, Swan.” After a beat, Neal acknowledged the truth in the statement with a shrug. “Go get some sleep. The war will still be here tomorrow.”

Truer words and all that bullshit. Emma gathered her gear and slipped quietly from the crevice. She moved back down the hillside towards the rundown crumbling structures they were currently calling theirs. As she passed the outer line of defenses, she heard a low whispered singing.

“What the fuck?” she veered towards the sound even though it was in the opposite direction from her own little corner of hardened clay.

As she got closer, she heard giggling and rolled her eyes. Booth and Jones. She should’ve known. Booth had a gift for being able to procure anything, anywhere. If someone was going to have alcohol in the middle of the battlefield, it was going to be him. And Jones would definitely be helping him drink it. Dropping down to her knees, she ripped back the tarp covering a precarious lean-to. Both men jumped at her unexpected appearance.

“Bloody hell, Swan!” Jones hissed, shaking spilled liquid off his hand. “You made me waste some of this precious potion.”

Emma slipped in, dropping the tarp back over the entrance. “With the racket you two were making, you’re lucky it’s just me.” August slapped a hand dramatically over his mouth, making Emma roll her eyes. “Now, what the hell are you drinking?”

The two men glanced at each other before August reached behind his back and pulled out a flask. He offered it to her. “Only the finest elixir this side of…wherever the hell we are.”

Emma snorted and took the flask. She sniffed the contents and coughed. The fumes alone made her eyes water. “Holy hell,” she blinked a few times, “this shit will probably make you go blind.”

“That’s not really a deterrent, love.” Jones slugged back another drink from his own flask. Emma couldn’t disagree.

“After the first drink, it goes down real smooth,” August assured her.

“You mean after it burns out the lining of my throat.”

August seemed to consider that and then nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”

“Well,” Emma knew this was going to be a bad idea, “cheers.”

An hour later and only two hours before sunrise, Emma crawled out of the tilting lean-to and dragged herself back to her own tarped off corner of wall that she currently called home. She dropped her vest and helmet with a thud loud enough to make her cringe. Then with fumbling fingers, she managed to untie her boots and eventually pull them off. Dragging her rifle close to her body, she slumped back against her pack and sank into oblivion. If she was lucky, she’d drank just enough to sleep without dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware this is not how civilians and doctors and rank work within the military, but this story is not set in any particular war or time period so I used dramatic license.


	2. Chapter 2

They were three days in to an allegedly agreed upon five-day ceasefire. The hospital had rotated back to its twelve-on-twelve-off schedule and Regina was using the unusually quiet night shift to work through the backlog of medical charts she needed to review. She’d not had a drink in twenty-four hours and had finally gotten some sleep; she was actually starting to feel human again.

The blow-off-steam party had rolled straight through the entire twenty-four hours that Ruby Lucas and her co-pilot Graham had been allotted as recovery time. Regrettably, Regina had spent more time in attendance than she probably should have.

But, of course, everyone had. Witnessing Mary Margaret, the chirpy Red Cross Volunteer, drink way too much and start dancing on tables before making out with Victor Whale was something Regina could’ve gone the rest of her life without seeing. On the flip side, it had all been worth it to witness Captain Midas shotgun three beers before departing as quickly as she had arrived. Rumor had it that Major Drake had even made an appearance, but Regina had missed that portion of the show, if it happened at all, which Regina didn’t believe it had.

Unbeknownst to anyone at the hospital, Regina knew Major Mallory Drake from before her arrival at the hospital. They’d been in medical school together, different years with Mallory two years ahead of Regina, but they’d spent time together, socially, on more than one occasion. There’d been alcohol, mutual desire, and the need to relieve stress involved in all of their encounters, so it hadn’t been what Regina would call a serious relationship, but Regina had always thought of Mal fondly because of those encounters. It also made her slightly relieved she hadn’t run into Mal at Ruby’s party. It would’ve been all too easy to fall into old habits, and they really didn’t need that kind of drama added to their lives here.

The door to the break room was pushed open and Regina chuckled to herself as she finished the file she was working on.

Her laughter earned a raised eyebrow from the newcomer. “Something amusing?”

“Think of the Dragon and she will appear,” Regina said, grinning as the chief of staff poured herself a cup of the rancid breakroom coffee. “I wouldn’t drink that if I were you.”

Mal sniffed the contents and crinkled her nose. She tentatively took a sip, shrugged and drank more deeply. “I’ve had worse.”

Regina was impressed. Usually the orderlies, Jefferson or Kristoff, made the break room coffee, and it was not fit for human consumption. She was pretty sure they did it on purpose so they didn’t have to share. “The coffee in the doctor’s lounge is much better.”

Mal leaned heavily against the chair opposite Regina, appearing more tired than she would allow anyone else in the hospital to witness. “That begs the question, dear. Why are you in here and not there?”

Regina thought of how the other doctor on duty, Robin Locksley, had disappeared earlier in the evening around the same time Marian, the charge nurse had gone on break. She’d heard they had been very friendly with each other at Ruby’s party. She didn’t know Robin very well, but she was friendly enough with Marian who was competent in her job. She had no wish to get them in any trouble if they were using the doctor’s lounge for reasons other than better coffee. “Trying to cut back on my caffeine,” Regina said eventually. “Maybe you should, too. You’re making rounds rather late, aren’t you, Mal?”

“Just finished an emergency surgery from one of the recovery wards. Young redhead brought in a few days ago.”

Mal’s tone and body language told Regina that it hadn’t gone well. “Want to talk about it?”

Mal scoffed, “Hell no.” She slugged back the last of the coffee. “What about you, Regina? Are you doing all right?”

Regina sat back in the uncomfortable chair, feeling her back pop. “I’m surviving.”

“You’ll let me know if that changes?” Mal asked and once Regina nodded, she stood. “Good.” She hesitated, “Have you talked to your father lately?”

“Yesterday actually.”

“Any news worth sharing?”

Regina shook her head. “Unfortunately, no.”

“That’s disappointing,” Mal hummed then rolled her shoulders a couple of times. “Well, I think it’s time for the dragon to find her den.”

Regina laughed at the way Mal had completely embraced the nickname the nurses and orderlies had bestowed upon her. “Good night, Mal.”

“Good night, Regina.”

An hour later, the door of the lounge crashed open again, startling Regina bad enough that she ripped through the page she’d been notating.

“Where the hell is everybody?” Graham, decked out in full flight gear, demanded. “I need a fucking corpsman!”

“Hasn’t anyone told you?” Jefferson asked, appearing behind the pilot's shoulder. It was clear he’d just roused himself from sleeping somewhere. “There’s a ceasefire on, man.”

“Yeah, well, no one told the IEDs that!” Graham snapped back at him. “We just got a call out!”

Regina jumped up. “Jefferson, go upstairs! Find a corpsman, now!”

Jefferson nodded and disappeared. Graham gave her an appreciative nod and strode back towards the receiving bay doors. Regina followed him and realized she could hear the rotors of the medevac chopper getting closer. Graham must’ve run over while Ruby did the pre-flight. When they heard the chopper land outside the doors, they exchanged a look.

“Damn it!” Graham swore and shook his head. “We can’t wait.”

Regina watched him stride out the doors. She hesitated, looking down the corridor for Jefferson to reemerge. A corpsman on the chopper could mean life or death for whatever poor soul had tangled with an IED. Echoing Graham’s curse, Regina made a decision. She threw on a flak jacket and helmet from the stack they kept near the doors, grabbed a medkit, and ran out towards the chopper.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thankfully, HQ had been true to their word and given the boots on the ground a full two days off. Aside from eating, sleeping, cleaning their weapons, and rotating through the watch schedule, Emma’s platoon did nothing for almost forty-eight hours. After drinking that rotgut drain cleaner that August had found, Emma had needed the break. Mulan had even kicked her in the ribs at one point just to see if she was still alive.

On day three, they’d packed up their little settlement and hiked twenty miles up the river to a new set of rolling dirt hills overlooking a somewhat greenish field. She’d had to admit, there was more green and more water than she had been expecting in-country. The water wasn’t anything you wanted to drink, but it, at least, existed and they weren’t stuck staring at endless desert.

“Alright, my squad, listen up,” Nolan called, gathering everyone together from shucking their packs and dropping excess gear. “We’ve got patrol tonight with Delta company. So, settle in, get some sleep, check your gear.”

Emma and Neal exchanged a look. “Guess the ceasefire is over then?”

Their sergeant shrugged. “Allegedly, we’ve got two more days.”

“Allegedly,” Jones muttered. “Right.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Mulan said, moving up the berm, surprising no one.

They all watched the stoic fighter walk off. Nolan nodded at her appreciatively. “We move out in six hours. Do what you need to do.”

Seven hours later found them moving quietly along a muddy canal and sparse tree line. Night vision goggles picked up multiple critters and animals seeking water after the day’s blistering heat. Emma’s company tracked the east side of the road while Delta company tracked the west. Their reason for being out here was not entirely clear, but that was par for the course. Reasoning ran somewhere along the lines that if they were out patrolling, the insurgents wouldn’t be out digging along the road they planned to traverse come the morning. Emma supposed that made sense; it didn’t mean she wanted to be out here.

Some type of water buffalo stood in the middle of the canal watching them walk by; Emma eyed it back just as warily. She’d never heard of one of them charging but she didn’t want to be the first to find out either. Just as her attention returned to the front, an explosion from the west side of the road rocked the silence, and Emma was blown off her feet.

“Swan! Swan, you all right?”

A heavy hand was shaking her shoulder and cold water was seeping into her boots. What the fuck was going on? She slapped at the hand on her shoulder, pushing it off as she tried to scramble up.

“Oi! Hey, whoa, slow down, Swan!” Will said, raising his hands away from her so she could see them.

Her chest hurt and she was trying to drag in a breath, but her lungs weren’t cooperating. She settled back on her elbows, staring at Will as she wheezed.

“Swan, stop rolling around in the mud and get back to work,” Jones called from several feet away.

She glared in his direction, her breath finally easing up. She still had no idea what was going on, but if Jones was giving her shit, she must be all right. “Fuck you, Jones.” Will laughed, sounding a bit relieved, and offered her a hand up. She asked, “What happened?”

Will sobered and cradled his rifle, indicating the other side of the road with his chin. “Unlucky bastard in Delta found an IED. Blew you and lil Henry over there off your feet.”

Emma reached for her rifle, wiped some gunk off it. “Dead?”

“Him and the one behind him,” Will confirmed. “Got a medevac called for two more.”

She exhaled heavily. “Fucking bullshit, man.”

“Yep.” He slapped her on the back. “Glad you’re all right.”

She grunted at the hit; she was going to be sore as hell tomorrow. “Yeah, thanks.” Will walked off and she saw Jones give her a look; she gave him a shaky thumbs up. He nodded then turned back to his watch. As the ringing in her ears began to fade, she could hear one of the guys from Delta moaning in pain.

Henry appeared at her side. “You okay?”

“Yeah, kid,” she said feeling more tired than anything. “I’m fine.” She could see he had just as much mud spattered on him as she did. She dropped her hand on his shoulder. “You good?”

He nodded and looked across the road. Clearly, they’d been fortunate. “Can’t complain.”

Her boots squished as she shifted her weight, and she caught a distinct whiff of manure coming off the mud on her hands. She could bitch about it tomorrow if she needed to but not tonight. Not when it could have so easily been her on the west side instead of the east. Henry moved off down their line to check for any injuries and Emma turned back to the canal. The damn water buffalo was still staring at her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chance to heed the tagged warnings. Bloody injuries ahead but nothing too graphic.

Regina groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding and her stomach lurched as she slowly pushed herself up. She reached a shaking hand up to her head and felt blood. Okay, head wound, hopefully just a laceration, probable concussion. What else? Her foot itched…and how did-? Her nose twitched at the smell of smoke and gasoline.

Oh God.

The helicopter. She’d gotten on the medevac helicopter. And it had gone down. There’d been an RPG and the chopper had been hit. And…

Oh _fuck_!

“Mayday…mayday…this is Evac…Lima…”

“Ruby?” Regina realized she could hear the pilot. “Ruby!” She tried to move, to scramble towards the cockpit, only to cry out as pain seared up her leg. She barely turned her head in time to not vomit all over herself. Her vision swam in and out of focus as she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

“Oscar-four-Lima…enemy fire…we’re down…”

Ruby’s words were coming out breathy and broken. The sound of her voice focused Regina like only a patient could. She needed to get to her; she needed to help her friend. She needed to find out what the fuck was wrong with her leg. Allowing herself one calming breath, Regina focused, “Physician, heal thyself.”

She looked towards her feet and almost lost her lunch again. Sweat broke out on her forehead as she stared blankly at the top of her boot and the sharp, jagged piece of metal impaling it from beneath. And, oh fuck, that _really_ hurt. Her knee twitched and she sucked in air through her teeth at the pain ripping through her foot with the slight movement.

“…mayday…in-surgen-ts…evac lima…”

Regina shouted over her shoulder at the fading voice. “Ruby! Ruby, hold on!”

She needed to get to her. And Graham, God she hadn’t heard a single sound from Graham. Regina looked at her foot again; she was going to have to free her foot, and, oh fuck that was going to hurt. She glanced around for something to bear down on and grabbed the strap of the medkit that was slung across her body. She stuffed it between her teeth, then braced her hands on the tilted deck of the chopper. She gave herself a silent countdown and then leveraged herself back with one giant lunge.

Regina screamed deep in her throat as her body weight moved backwards dragging her boot off its mooring. Her vision tunneled down to pinpoints and her sweaty palms slipped against the smooth metal dropping her down to her elbows. Tears and sweat rolled down her face as her entire body throbbed in time with her thudding heart. She gave herself five breaths then forced her eyes back open. She twisted around to look over her shoulder. “Ruby?”

Her foot and lower leg felt like she’d gone wading in lava, but she would deal with that in a minute. She needed to get to Ruby. She reached for the base of the pilot’s seat and pulled herself forwards. Another reach and pull with shaking arms and she had herself wedged inbetween the two pilots. A single glance at Graham confirmed what she had already feared. His head was slack to his chest, resting at an awkward angle. Blood filled the part of the helmet visor she could see. He had likely died on impact. There was nothing she could have done for him. She twisted around to the pilot.

Ruby’s lips were still moving but no sound was coming out. Her red helmet painted with a wolf howling at the moon was cracked and tilted on her head. Regina hesitated in reaching for the helmet, but one look at the rest of the pilot’s body and she knew it wouldn’t make a difference. Blood soaked the young woman’s lap with compound fractures of both femurs. It was a wonder the pilot hadn’t bled out already.

“Re-gina.”

“Hey, Ruby!” Regina said and undid the helmet strap and tugged it off. She noticed the radio headset was completely smashed. She was horribly relieved to see cloudy green eyes looking at her. She stroked the younger woman's cheek, swallowed thickly, and lied, “Hey, you’re going to be okay.”

“I’m…sorry.” Tears rolled down the pilot’s face. “I’m so…sorry.”

“Hey. Hey, listen to me. This is not your fault,” Regina assured her. “You didn’t even want me here, remember?” And she hadn’t. If the situation hadn’t been what it had been, Regina was pretty sure Ruby would’ve decked her.

“You’re…hurt.”

Regina shook her head, which was a mistake, then swiped at the blood over her eyebrow. “Nope, just bumped my head. It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Green eyes blinked slowly and then looked past Regina’s shoulder. “Graham?”

Regina shifted to block the sight of him even though she doubted Ruby could really see anything at this point. “He’s fine, too.”

Ruby grimaced, her chest jerking once before she settled again. “I’m…scared.”

Regina kept her hands on Ruby’s face until the green eyes closed again and did not reopen. The last exhale rattled through the pilot's chest and Ruby's body went limp. Regina stroked her thumbs across damp cheeks before finally letting go. She looked out the cracked window of the cockpit at the darkened landscape. “Me too, Ruby. Me too.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Damn, Swan, you smell like-”

“Don’t say it.”

Neal grinned. “Shit.”

She sighed, too tired for his nonsense. “Fuck you, Cassidy.” She settled beside him and looked out at the darkened landscape of a field in front of them. His squad had stayed back while the rest of them had gone on patrol. As the replacement shift, she knew it was her sacred duty between friends to bring Neal up to speed on things that had happened while he’d been on watch. Usually it was just a bit of camp gossip, but tonight it really was a solemn duty. He'd already heard about the IED, but there was more. “Delta lost another guy before a medevac finally arrived.”

Neal swore. “What the fuck happened? Do they know?”

“Charming said HQ thinks the first medevac they sent out went down.”

“What?! Wait, what do you mean they _think_ it went down?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess they got some garbled message and then didn’t hear anything else. When Delta called in wanting to know where they fuck the evac was…”

“Shit,” Neal shook his head then frowned. “How the fuck do you lose a helicopter?”

“War is hell,” she sighed, repeating their oft used motto. “These fucking mountain ranges fuck up the comms. They fuck up everything.” She picked up the binos and began to scan the line of trees at the far edge of the field. “Anyway, you should go get some sleep. We’re going to need it.”

Neal eyed her warily. “Why?”

She snorted, not looking at him, eyes still trained on the field. “Why do you think?”

“Aw, fuck, man,” Neal slapped a hand against the ground, kicking up dust. “We have to go find a damn helicopter tomorrow, don’t we?”

“Yep.” She eyed a dark patch of bushes at the far north end of the trees. She narrowed her eyes behind the binos. “Did you see anything weird out there?”

“What? No,” he said dismissively, then hesitated. “Why?”

“Probably nothing.” She felt that itch like she was being watched. “Probably just that damn water buffalo still out there.”

Neal chuckled and grabbed his gear ready to leave. He moved over, turning towards their camp. “Probably wondering what happened to that hot blonde chick that fell in a pile of his-”

The crack of a shot rang out across the night. Emma recoiled instinctively bringing a hand up to protect her head. Neal dropped to his knees and fell face first into the dirt. She stared at his prone body, wondering briefly why he didn’t move, why he didn’t break his fall. She didn’t register the others shouting down the line. “Neal?”

“Contact left!! South end! South end!”

Shouts went up and a barrage of answering gunfire erupted up and down the line, painting the tree line. Emma didn’t fire; she just stared at Neal’s unmoving body. Sweat rolled down her cheek from her hairline making her twitch. She reached out a trembling hand and shook his boot. “Neal?”

“Ceasefire. Ceasefire!” The gunfire petered out down the line as the order spread. An uneasy quiet filled the air as thick as the scent of cordite.

“Is anyone hit?”

Emma blinked, a sickness was building in her gut. “Yeah.” Her voice came out as a whisper. Realization was making her heart try and tear its way out of her chest. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Man down.” She was only slightly louder; she wanted to scream. She took a breath and said it again, making her nightmare real. “Man down! Man. Down!”


	4. Chapter 4

_“What the hell took you so long?” Ruby yelled as Graham climbed into the helicopter._

_“No corpsmen!” he yelled back._

_She frowned at him and then caught movement climbing in behind him. “Then who the hell is that?”_

_“Who?” he asked, unable to look as he was settling into his seat._

_“That!” Ruby twisted in her harness to get a better look at their passenger. “Oh, hell no! No fucking way!”_

_“What?!” Graham asked, finally looking and then seeing. His eyes went wide. “Doctor Mills!”_

_Regina pushed her borrowed and ill-fitting helmet back and made a motion with her hand. “Let’s go.”_

_“No!” Ruby yelled. “No fucking way. Get the fuck off my bird, Mills!”_

_Regina strapped herself in. “I’m going. Someone’s life is in danger.”_

_“I know that!” the pilot yelled. “Yours and mine when the Dragon finds out!”_

_Regina glared at her. “You’re wasting time, Lucas!”_

_“It’s against policy!”_

_“Mal will never know.”_

_“She will if something happens!”_

_“There’s a ceasefire.”_

_“We are flying straight into a hot zone!” Ruby yelled. “I can't take a civilian into a combat zone!”_

_That charge always pissed Regina off. True, she hadn’t gone through boot camp and trained to fight, but she had seen more blood and guts than any grunt in the field. “I am NOT a civilian!”_

_“You’re NOT a soldier!”_

_“Red, we need to go!” Graham pleaded, drawing her ire._

_“Oh, fuck you!” Ruby glared at both of them. “Fuck both of you.” She turned back around in the cockpit. “When we get back, I am kicking both of your asses.”_

Regina jerked awake, her breathing immediately jumping straight into overdrive as the first rays of early morning sun hit her face. She’d passed out; she’d fucking passed out. Idiot! Stupid. Anything could have happened and she wouldn’t have even seen it coming. She could have…she scrambled to grip the gun that was resting heavily in her lap as she frantically searched her surroundings. She was still alone as far as she could see, and she forced herself to loosen her white-knuckle grip on the pistol.

Technically, she knew how to use the weapon, but it felt more like a security blanket than anything. Something to assure her that she had options. Her options sucked, but that seemed to be the state of her life at the moment. However short that life may be. 

She’d moved away from the wreckage of the helicopter and concealed herself beneath some scraggly brush near the edge of a questionable canal. The wreckage was out of sight as she had the absurd reality of wanting to be hidden while also findable. It all depended on who was doing the searching.

It was, after all, a helicopter crash site. People from both sides of the conflict would have noticed. The odds of which side arrived first to search the site were incredibly against her. The insurgents had shot them down; they _knew_ there was a crash site. Her side, however, well…they’d probably received the initial distress call but anything after they were on the ground was suspect.

It had killed Regina to leave her two friends behind, not knowing what might happen to their bodies, but rationally she knew they would have wanted her to survive above all else. And surviving had become the name of the game, starting with her foot. There had been no point in taking off her boot. A hole through her foot was a hole through her foot whether she had a boot on or not, and she’d known she was going to need all the protection around the wound that she could manage.

Looking down at the throbbing misshapen boot, Regina could hear her mother’s disgust at her ineptitude snapping at her. She pushed it down the way she always tried to, but given the situation, it was more difficult than usual. Practically biting through the strap of the med-bag, Regina had dumped blood clotting agent and antiseptic into the wound, stuffed both sides with gauze, and wrapped it. She’d then used Graham’s roll of mechanical-fix-all-duct-tape to wrap it again.

In the absolute stillness of the night, Regina had been trying to be quiet, but the outrageously loud rip of the duct tape as she had wound it around and around her foot had driven her nerves right past ten and over the edge of a cliff. She’d been shaking so badly by the time she was finished she’d hardly been able to tear off the end. 

The effort of dressing her wound, the concussion that had her head pounding, and the last dregs of adrenalin burning off had left her on the verge of comatose, blinking dumbly out at the darkness. The single crack of a shot followed by the rat-a-tat-tat of answering gunfire somewhere off in the distance had jolted her back into the land of the living. She’d spent too much time in the wreckage and she’d needed to move.

She’d dry swallowed a few mild pain pills, hurriedly repacked her medical bag, including the remaining duct tape, and slung it back across her body. A glance towards the cockpit had her squeezing once more between the bodies of two people she had called friends. In the real world, they would probably have never met, but in this bizarre place they called war, they’d bonded over blood, beer, and bullets. She’d pocketed a dog tag from each of them, dug the canteen out of Ruby’s thigh pocket, and at the last second, she’d taken Graham’s sidearm from his holster. Weighed down in both mind and body, she’d made her way out of the wreckage.

And then, after dragging herself through the darkened, unknown landscape, she'd apparently passed out until morning. Regina scrubbed a hand over her face, grimacing at the dried, flaky blood she passed over, and shook her head at herself. “Way to go, Mills. Dereliction of duty, falling asleep on watch,” she scoffed. “Ruby was right; you’re no soldier.”

She flipped over her wrist and wiped off the face of her watch. 0615. Her shift had ended fifteen minutes ago. In a perfect world, someone had noticed by now that she was missing. She had left her reports sitting out but no one had seen her jump on the chopper. Jefferson might have suspected she had gone when he returned with a corpsman and she wasn’t there, but he’d probably kept his mouth shut as long as possible trying not to get her in trouble. Midas would have his ass; Mal would eat her alive when she returned. _If_ she returned.

But would any of that lead to them knowing where she was now? _She_ didn’t even know where she was.

She did know that as the sun rose, her hiding space was really no hiding space at all. She glanced in the direction of the wreckage; it had been several hours by now. Rigor mortis had likely set in…no! She wasn’t going to think of her friends like that. But surely someone was looking for them by now. Someone…gunfire erupted again in the distance. Two quick pops followed by an onslaught of machine gun fire. It sounded like it was closer than it had been last night. She gripped the pistol and looked around.

She could see portions of a wall in the distance, possibly some structures, and they lay in the direction opposite where she thought she heard the gunfire. She could seek cover there. She glanced down at her foot then back at the wall. Fuck. How the hell was she going to do this? A trio of pops made her cringe before an answering hail of return fire had her using a scrawny tree to drag herself up to her feet. She couldn’t stay here; she had to move.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The sound of sustained gunfire jolted Emma out of a daze. She didn't think she'd been asleep, not really, but she hadn’t been aware of her surroundings either. Midday sunlight beat against the tarp of a lean-to and she slowly sat up. She frowned; she should’ve been on guard duty until morning. What the hell was she doing sleeping? She scrubbed a hand over her face and felt the unrolled sleeves of a too large fatigue shirt slide down her wrist. She glared at the offending material. The shirt wasn’t hers; it was too big on her.

_“Swan? Swan!” Hook’s voice was the first to reach her, scrambling towards her from the left. “Are you…bloody hell.”_

_“Neal’s dead.” Hook’s head snapped up, eyes staring at her despite the dark. She was completely numb and didn't understand the look of horror on Hook's face. Surely, he'd seen worse. She gestured towards Neal’s body. “We should…”_

_“I’ll take care of him, love,” he said, moving to block her view, seemingly shaking out of whatever stupor had seized him. He pulled out his canteen, unscrewed the cap, and began pouring the water onto a bandanna. “Is any of this yours?” He didn’t wait for her answer before yelling over his shoulder. “Medic! We need a medic over here!”_

_“Is any of what mine?” Emma asked confused._

Oh. Right. She’d almost forgotten.

Turned out it hadn’t been sweat rolling down her face but blood. She’d been covered in Neal’s…well, she’d been covered in Neal. They’d been in a hurry to clean her up after…Neal. Henry and Mulan had both appeared. They’d assessed her for injury, cleaned her up which meant throwing her clothes away, and redressed her quickly with someone’s spare fatigue shirt, Charming’s maybe. She vaguely remembered him making an appearance as well.

She heard mortars landing in the distance and knew she should feel a bit more concern than she did. Just because Neal was…Neal was gone. Neal was…the only person that had ever given a damn about her before she’d become a soldier. She’d met him as a teenager after she’d lost her parents, and he’d quickly become like a brother to her. He’d always looked out for her. And now…now he was gone. That was something that she was going to have to accept. Accept and move on because that’s what he’d want; he’d be pissed if she got killed now because of him.

Emma ran a shaky hand through her hair, pulled on her boots, and got to her feet. She stumbled over the rope holding up her tarp. She could practically hear Neal’s laughter in her head, giving her shit for being so clumsy. She shook her head hard and shoved the memory down. If she was going to keep going, she couldn’t be thinking of him every five minutes. She shoved him to the back of her mind, locked up the memory, and threw away the key. She would deal with him later when there weren’t mortars being fired overhead. Because there wasn’t a choice really. There was a war on; she _had_ to keep going.

Slowly, determinedly, she moved up to where the rest of her squad was laid out, sliding into a position between Scarlet and Booth. “What’s going on?”

Scarlet’s dark eyebrows lowered into a frown as he looked at her. Then he gave an exaggerated sniff and said, “At least you don’t smell like shit anymore.”

She felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. She’d picked these two in particular and was relieved they hadn’t let her down by asking her how she was doing. “I fell into manure, what’s your excuse?”

“I don’t smell like shit,” he said, sounding indignant.

Emma glanced at Booth then back to Will. They said in unison, “Yeah, you do.”

“Just for that, I’m going to let Booth here tell you what we’re shooting at.” He feigned hurt and turned away from them.

Emma raised an eyebrow at August. His blue eyes lost most of their good humor. “Our sniper from last night is still out there. He keeps taking pot shots at us.” He pointed towards a low wall at the far side of the field. “Then we saw movement out there.”

Another mortar round exploded in the direction he’d indicated. Emma borrowed his binos and scanned the area. She couldn’t see anything. “What are our orders?”

“Shoot anything that moves,” Scarlet said. “Kill it till it’s dead.”

She scanned the horizon again. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's update is all Regina. Hope that's okay ;)

Regina slid around the hardened clay corner and collapsed to her knees. She’d made it to the small structure at the end of the wall. It had taken her all damn day, but she’d made it. She slumped over, barely holding onto consciousness. If she had any moisture left in her body, she’d be crying in relief, but Ruby’s canteen had run dry around noon and that had been several hellish hours earlier.

_Once she was on her feet and the firefight had quieted, she steeled herself and lurched towards the next closest tree. She groaned as it felt like she was shoving hot coals through her injured foot. Two heaving breaths and she lurched again; it was not getting easier as she made her way to her third tree. When she got to the edge of the scraggly trees, she checked the time. It had taken her the better part of an hour to traverse about sixty feet. And now it was time for the fun part._

_Between her and the beginning edge of the crumbling wall was a wide-open area about the length of two football fields. She’d have nothing to lean on, nothing to help support her, and absolutely nowhere to hide. There was an insurgent sniper somewhere in the area taking pot shots at whatever targets he chose, her own people were out there throwing tremendous firepower at anything that moved, and she those were just the threats she'd identified. She also wasn't entirely sure who was firing in which direction._

_The ground in front of her was a mix of rocks, clumps of hardened clay, and dirt dotted with weeds and brush. At some point in the past, the earth had been churned up, the field had been worked and farmed, but it had been a while. She considered her options; walking, well, limping would be faster, but crawling would be safer and slightly less painful. It was barely an argument. Regina dropped to her knees, slung the medkit around to her back, and leaned down, planting her hands against the ground. She began crawling forward on her hands and knees._

_“If only mother could see me now,” she muttered, wincing when her hand caught a sharp rock. The same rock then dug into her knee a moment later. She sighed, “At least it’s not my foot.”_

_She was halfway to the wall when the first shot rang out and dirt kicked up from the impact five feet short of her. She froze for a second then dropped to the ground. That apparently had been like waving a red flag in front of a bull as a hail of bullets began to kick up dirt all around her._

_“Fuck!” She clawed at the ground, her fingers digging into the dirt in a misguided effort to try and become one with the earth. The medkit on her back jerked to the side as it was hit with a round. “Fuck!” She scrambled to crawl forward. The flak jacket she wore caught against every rock, grass root, and chunk of clay as she pulled herself forwards. The injury to her foot was forgotten as she tried to dig her feet in to the ground and push herself, she screamed in agony at the cruel reminder and then pushed anyway. About fifteen feet short of her position, a machine gun began peppering the ground in a line all the way from the wall to past her feet. She crawled faster. She had to make it before they adjusted their fire. The edge of the wall was twenty feet away. An explosion detonated well over her position. For a brief moment, she stared, realization dawning that they were firing mortars at her. She jumped up, ran and dove for cover behind the wall._

The mortars had continued for another fifteen minutes, walking in closer to her position with every round. She’d heard gunfire hitting the wall as she’d curled into a ball of crying, raging, fear-fueled misery. She’d still been screaming for them to stop shooting at her long after the last bullet ticked into the wall. Then there’d been blessed silence and she’d eventually, slowly forced herself out of the fetal position.

She’d stayed there for longer than she should have, shaking, sitting up, checking herself over; she’d still had the gun and canteen, the medkit had taken a bullet straight through it, and her foot had still been painfully attached to her body. She’d had to mentally convince herself that was a good thing.

Eventually, she’d forced herself up using the wall as support and gotten moving again. The sun had risen steadily higher in the sky. Multiple times throughout the day the sniper had opened fire causing mini-skirmishes. None of them were near her like they’d been that first time, but when she’d heard the incoming air support she’d truly feared for her life. Thankfully, the brrrrrtt sound had gone right over her position and she’d hoped it took out the bastard that kept getting her shot at. 

It was early evening when she finally cleared the end of the wall and slid inside what had probably once been a farmer’s hovel. It only had three walls still standing and a partial roof but after being in the sun all day, to Regina, it felt like nirvana. While she was on her knees, she gave thanks for it to whoever was listening.

Moving as little as possible, she shucked the flak jacket off and managed to sit down with her back against one wall. She lifted her hips slightly and pulled the gun out from her waistband, keeping it in her lap. Her entire body was trembling with fatigue; she dropped her head back against the wall and allowed her eyes to shut. She needed to rest, just for a minute.

When Regina opened her eyes, it was nearly completely dark in the small structure. Only the moonlight that had been covered by clouds the night before shed any light. If she wasn’t so tired, she’d berate herself for passing out again, but she was truly at her limit.

She’d hoped that her people would’ve found her by now. She would never have guessed in a million years that the last twenty-four hours would have transpired the way they had. She’d been planning to finish her shift, have breakfast with Zelena, pass out for six to eight hours and then hit repeat. Instead she’d fallen down the rabbit hole that led straight into hell. And apparently, Satan didn’t believe in coffee.

She snorted, amused more than she should be at her own dark joke. Clearly, she was starting to get a bit punch drunk. She needed-

Regina froze. She could hear footsteps just outside the wall she was propped up against. She grabbed at the pistol in her lap and slid up the wall as she hurried to her feet, pulling herself as far into the shadows as she could. Her heart was pounding in her chest as a figure carrying multiple weapons came around the corner opposite her.

He didn’t see her in the shadows and she watched, heart in her throat, as he propped the two long weapons he was carrying against the wall. He dropped a bag off his shoulders, letting it fall to the ground then crouched over it. He dug around in it, pulling out a small lantern that he flicked on and set on the ground beside his feet. With the lantern on, the possibility of hiding was gone. As soon as he looked up, he’d be able to see her. Regina moved her thumb up to the pistol’s safety and flicked it off.

The sound ricocheted across the small space. The figure jumped to his feet like a shot, pulling a gun of his own from the bag as he moved. He raised it up in time to see Regina aiming her pistol right between his eyes. They stared at each other, not moving, barely breathing, fingers on triggers, staring down the barrel of each other’s gun.

Fuck.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cue soundtrack.

Regina could think of absolutely nothing to say as a million thoughts raced through her mind. She stared at him, a young man, an insurgent that probably wanted to kill her. He was wounded, a bloody bandage around his neck and another on his upper arm. She saw the two guns he had leaned against the wall, a machine gun and a long rifle with a scope. A sniper rifle. This _kid_ was the goddamn sniper?!

Cue _fucking_ soundtrack.

“You’re the little bastard that’s been getting me shot at all day?”

His lip curled upwards and he snarled something she didn’t understand. Which meant he probably hadn’t understood her either. Then again, even if they didn’t know each other’s language, they’d understood each other perfectly.

Her arm was starting to tremble. She couldn’t hold the gun out in front of her without support like this for very long. He noticed…and smirked.

“Don’t do that,” she snapped, her voice hard. “Don’t you dare fucking smirk at me.”

He may not have been able to understand her words, but he definitely understood her meaning. His eyes widened at her snarl and the smirk slid off his features. For a brief second, his gaze dropped away from hers.

His reaction surprised her and she studied him more closely. He was younger than she’d originally thought. He was lean, slightly gangly looking; his facial features were just starting to fill out but she couldn’t see any facial hair. The eyes though were hard when they snapped back to hers, embarrassed at their momentary guilt, their slight show of respect. He raised his gun back up the scant inches it had dropped and snapped a short phrase at her.

Regina arched an eyebrow. She didn’t have to know what he said specifically to know he’d just cursed at her. “Fine.” In a bold and necessary move, she pulled her gun back to her side, never letting it waver from pointing at him, but its weight was now supported by her body. “Your move.”

He frowned for a moment before slowly mimicking her stance, shifting his weight from right to left. He winced and shifted his weight back again. Regina immediately glanced down at his legs and feet, assessing them for injury. The left knee was swollen but she couldn’t see any blood or other obvious injuries. “Rough day?”

His cheek twitched but otherwise didn’t respond. Her own foot was aching something fierce but she’d already caught him looking oddly at the boot covered in duct tape. She didn’t need to draw any further attention to it. The silence stretched between them; she had no idea what to do.

Then she caught site of another weapon leaning near the gap in the wall. Her gaze flicked between it and him. “That’s a…rocket launcher.”

He looked where she was looking; a proud and triumphant grin twisted his features. He nodded.

Cold fury curled in her gut. “Did you-” her voice caught. She tried again. “Did you shoot down a helicopter?” He stared at her, the grin slowly fading away. She jabbed her free hand towards the sky. “Did you shoot down a medevac? A doctor in the sky? Did you shoot it down?” Everyone knew the word doctor. Just like everyone knew the red cross depicted on uniforms, helicopters, and trucks meant medical care. “ _Did_ _you_?”

He glanced at the pistol down by her side, the way it was aimed at him. He looked at the rocket launcher and then back at her. He understood her.

“You did, didn’t you?” she breathed out, her chin raising as her chest hurt with the realization. “Oh God, you killed…you killed my friends.” She raised the gun in her hand level with his face again, took a menacing step towards him. She saw his eyes widen. “You _killed_ my friends.”

He stared at her, the fear in his eyes showing despite his attempt to hide it. When she didn’t immediately shoot him, his eyes narrowed. Then he spoke. “Do. No. Harm.”

He spit the words out in broken English shocking her. She sucked in a breath; her aim wavered as she staggered back. “You speak English?”

He shook his head, turned it to the side and spit.

“Of course, you don’t,” Regina scoffed. “But you know that, don’t you? You know doctors do no harm.” She refocused the gun in his direction. “Well, guess what? _I’m_ a doctor. And I _really_ want to harm you right now.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Regina only chapter, didn't seem right to just leave her there, but don't worry, Emma will be back tomorrow.  
> Shout out to Disney's Megara this chapter ;) Love her!   
> Thanks to all who are reading! Hope you're enjoying.

With Regina’s declaration came another weighted silence. This one lasted longer. She was shaking. Fatigue. Anger. Every emotion she'd ever felt in her life wanted to show itself tonight. The moon was high in the sky, elongating the hovel’s shadows. Their standoff continued.

Regina didn’t know how to get out of this. Her finger was on the trigger. All she had to do was apply pressure. She wanted him dead; she didn’t want to kill him. She really just wanted this fiasco of a bad night to be over. If he happened to die, preferably without her having to be the one to shoot him, she could live with that. After all, she held the winning hand. She knew she did; she’d seen it. The gun in his hand still had the safety on. It was a razor thin margin, but if he so much as twitched, all she had to do was squeeze the trigger. He had two actions to complete; she had one.

“I don’t know how this ends,” she said out loud, startling them both. “Ideally, my cavalry would arrive on white horses and save me from breaking the one oath I’ve made in my life, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. I'm not even sure the military has white horses anymore, and even if they do, I know they didn’t bring them to this godsforsaken place.”

He looked a little confused at her rambling, and she couldn’t blame him. What the fuck was she talking about? White fucking horses? A cavalry coming to her rescue? She wasn’t some goddamn Disney princess.

“I’m a damsel. I’m in distress.” She chuckled darkly. “I can handle this.” He glared at her; she waved him off. She had a bigger problem to worry about than him. “If I was any better hydrated, I’d have two things to worry about.” Her main problem was that she needed to sit down. She couldn’t put any weight on her bad foot, and her good leg was threatening to buckle. If she didn’t sit down, she was going to fall down, and she couldn’t see that ending well. But standing was the high ground, right? Well, if she was going to sit down, so was he.

“Hey,” she gestured with her pistol, “sit down.” Not understanding, he jabbed his pistol back in her direction. She rolled her eyes and gestured again. “Sit. Down.” While he was still glaring at her, she gingerly started sliding down the wall until her butt hit the ground. Her gun stayed trained on him and it wasn’t the most graceful way to take a seat, but she almost sighed with relief once she was down.

“Hey!” she snapped at him, trying to draw his attention away from her foot. His eyes met hers and she matched him for coldness. “You just worry about yourself.” She settled more comfortably, the pistol aimed directly at his head. “You’ve got enough problems of your own without worrying about mine.”

His lip curled again as though he understood her. He risked a quick glance behind him. Then looked back at Regina.

“You make a move for one of those guns and this ends _real_ quick,” she swore. She’d do it; she swore to herself she would pull the trigger. The two long guns would take precious seconds to reach and then turn on her. The pistol in his hand was still his best bet, and he seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. He made a gesture towards the ground with his free hand. Regina nodded for him to continue and soon he was sitting on the ground across from her, gun in hand, pointed at her.

“Great,” Regina muttered, “glad we got that settled.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The moon was no longer where she could see it. The shadows had shifted direction as it moved across the sky and they were now closer to morning than evening. Regina was struggling. Her attention was fading, she was exhausted, she was hungry. The throbbing heat traveling up her leg from her foot was a horrible sign that her injury was only getting worse. She’d had plans to try and clean it up a bit, maybe avoid some of the infection that was probably settling in, but then her local neighborhood sniper had shown up. She eyed him; he looked almost as lethargic as she felt and his bandages were no cleaner than hers. She’d seen him wince when he sat down.

“My mother wanted me to be a doctor,” she said. He actually looked relieved she was speaking again which amused her. “So, I became a doctor.” She shifted her foot a bit, grimacing. “Mother had it all set up for me to get some attending spot at this great hospital, and in a few years, I’d be chief of surgery or head of cardiology. Something like that. I hated her for it. So, I did the one thing she wanted me to have nothing to do with. She’d never been more furious than when I told her I’d volunteered to support the military.” Regina absently touched the scar that split her top lip. “She disowned me that night. Threw all my stuff out of the house, slammed the door in my face. It was all very dramatic.” She chuckled darkly, “If she knew about this,” she gestured at their surroundings, “if she knew about you, she’d be thrilled to point out that this is exactly the sort of thing she warned me about. She'd care less about whether I lived or died as long as I knew that this is what I deserve for defying her.”

She noticed her captive audience was watching her very closely so she continued. “My dad though,” she said, letting her head drop back against the wall, “he was so proud of me for standing up to my mother. It was something he’d never been able to do. Except for that one time…that one time where he walked out and never came back. I suppose that counts.” She loved her father dearly, but she also still hated him for leaving like that…leaving her. He’d always been able to fight anyone _except_ Regina’s mother. “Before the war started, I got to spend summers with him. He owns a ranch and I would help him train the horses. Best times of my life were standing in that dirt, working with a horse, knowing my dad was there at the fence watching me. Proud of me.” 

She remembered Ruby had gotten so excited when she’d found out Regina had horses; she’d made Regina promise to let her come see them. The memory had her glaring at her opponent who shifted his weight slightly at her suddenly hard look. “What about you?” she snapped. “Got any stories you want to get off your chest?”

He didn’t answer and they fell back into silence.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The sky outside the hovel was becoming lighter. Surprisingly, Regina had never felt more awake in her life. The heated interest in their standoff had waned during the night but with early morning light, they were both reinvested. Regina straightened her posture; he leaned forward. She tightened her grip on the gun she held. “It’s really getting down to it now, isn’t it?” She swallowed. “We’re going to have to make a decision here.” 

The night had been long and Regina’s mind had wandered over a wide range of topics, but it had repeatedly and consistently come back to how she would handle this moment. Ultimately, she was a doctor; she’d sworn an oath to do no harm. “We could just walk away.”

He frowned at her.

Using her free hand, she tapped her chest. “ _I_ will go that way.” She pointed to the left. “And you,” she pointed at him. “You go that way.” She pointed to the right.

His frown intensified. He shook his head.

“No? That’s it? Just, no?” She scrubbed her hand over her face. “No, what? No to the whole thing? No you don’t want to leave?” she asked. “We can’t just sit here all day. I mean, it's been fun and all...”

He didn’t understand her but he said, “No.” He pointed at her and pointed at where she was sitting.

Regina frowned, trying to understand. “You want me to stay here?” A new thought began to nibble at the back of her mind. A new terrifying thought. “You want _me_ to stay here.”

He looked out through the wall at the lightening sky, then back at her. “Doc-tor.”

Fear burned through her veins. He wanted her to stay here. She was a doctor. He wasn’t out here all alone. She began to shake her head. “No. No, I will not stay here and be the doctor for you and your friends.” She planted her free hand, intending to push herself up.

She heard the click she’d been waiting all night to hear. The faintest sound that would change her life forever.

He’d just flicked the safety on his gun to off.

Regina squeezed the trigger.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't decide where to break this chapter up so I didn't. Long update today.

Emma had first morning watch. The guys hadn’t wanted her to take watch at all, but she knew she wasn’t going to sleep anyway, might as well be useful. She’d been awake before the sun had come up, staring out at the abandoned field, stretching out in front of them. As the sky was beginning to lighten, she could hear the rest of the company starting to wake up and move around behind her.

“Coming up,” a rough voice said.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Jones making his way towards her spot on the little dirt ridge. He dropped beside her on the ground, taking a quick glance out at the field. “Mornin’ Swan,” he drawled. “Did you sleep at all?”

“No,” she answered. He looked tired. “Did you?”

He gave her a smarmy grin. “Like a baby.”

She didn’t believe him for a second. He’d been friends with Neal longer than she had. “Like a baby, huh?”

“Mmm-hmmm.”

“So, you woke up crying and pissing on yourself?”

For a brief second, he looked confused, then he let out a wry chuckle. “Fuck you, Swan.” He dug around in his hip pocket. “Just for that. I’m not going to offer you any of this morning elixir.”

She snatched the flask from his hand as soon as he got it out. “Give me that.” She took a swig from it and coughed. “You shouldn’t have this out here.”

“Just enough to take the edge off.” He shrugged and took it back. “It was rather polite of our sniper friend to not bother us during the night.”

“Assholes have to sleep, too,” Emma muttered, returning her attention to the perimeter.

“Or maybe we got him yesterday.”

“Careful, Hook. That almost sounds like optimism.”

He was about to retort when they heard a series of pops sound in the distance. They flattened themselves against the berm, scanning the horizon.

“That wasn’t a machine gun,” Emma muttered.

“Or a rifle,” Hook agreed, scanning the line with the binos. “Do you see anything?”

“No, nothing.”

He set the binos between them and ran a hand through his hair. “Think it was our sniper?”

“Hold up, hold up! I’ve got movement coming out of the structure!” Emma hissed, squinting against the morning glare lighting up the field. “Yeah, yeah, one pax. You seeing this, Jones?”

“Yeah, I see him,” he confirmed. “Fucker is hurt, look how he’s moving.”

“Good,” Emma swore as she reached for the binos. She hoped it was that asshole that had been peppering them with bullets for two days. He deserved some fucking pain. She blew dust off of the binos before bringing them to her face. It took her a second to locate the stumbling figure.

“And he’s down,” Jones spit. “Fucker just collapsed.”

Emma slowly lowered the binos, her heart in her throat. She’d only just managed to focus on the figure in time to see him collapse. “I think…he was wearing a uniform.”

Jones shrugged. “So, what?”

“Insurgents don’t wear uniforms, asshole. Only we do!” She tried to find the figure again but the slight roll of the land had him out of sight. “Get the sergeant up here.”

“You’ve lost it, Swan,” Jones said, shaking his head. “There’s no way that fucker is one of ours. We’re the only ones out here, and we haven’t made it to that side of the field yet.”

“I’m aware of that, asshole, but I know what I saw,” she insisted. “Now go get fucking Nolan.”

“The heat is getting to you, Swannie. You’re seeing shit.”

“For fuck’s sake, Hook, will you just go get him!”

“Get who?” David asked, appearing behind them in a low crouch. “What’s going on? Booth said he heard some shots fired.”

“Yeah, just some small arms in the distance,” Hook said, glaring at Emma, silently telling her to keep quiet.

She ignored him. “And then one pax stumbled out of the structure and collapsed.”

Nolan looked surprised and glanced between the two of them, reading the tension. “And?”

“And I think he was wearing a uniform,” Emma rushed out as Hook swore.

Nolan’s eyebrows raced up his forehead. “A uniform? One of ours?”

Emma hated this. “Yeah, Sarge, I think so.”

“How certain are you?” he asked.

“She _isn’t_ ,” Hook growled. “She barely caught a glimpse of him before he went down.”

“Swan?”

Emma glared at Hook but reluctantly nodded. “He’s right. I only caught a glimpse.”

David rubbed his jaw. He glanced over his shoulder; everyone that had been doing morning routines were now quietly watching, waiting for orders. He looked back at Swan. He trusted her. She wouldn’t have said anything if she didn’t believe it. And there was that missing medevac chopper. “You know what you saw?”

Emma took a breath then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay,” Nolan said. “Well, we’re going to have to send someone out there to check.”

“I know,” Emma admitted. “I’ll go.”

“Damn it, Swan,” Hook swore. They both looked at him. “What? It’s not like I’m going to let her go out there alone.” He pointed at Emma. “You owe me rum for this. Top shelf.”

Nolan chuckled. “Relax, Hook. You’re not going.” He turned to call over his shoulder. “Send Colter up here.”

Emma set her rifle down and began stripping off gear she didn’t need, anything that would slow her down. It made sense to send the medic with her even if she felt bad about putting the kid in danger. In short order, Henry appeared at Nolan’s side and they explained the situation to him. He nodded, checked his supplies, there wasn’t anything he could shed.

“All right, Swan, listen up,” Nolan said. “I want you and Colter to run straight along the wall bisecting the two fields. We’re going to lay down covering fire. If there is anyone out there watching, we’re going to make sure they keep their heads down.” He included the medic. “When you reach the pax, you drag them over to that northwest corner. Do not treat them out in the open, do not go inside that structure, you got me?”

Henry nodded solemnly but Emma smirked, “Easy Charming, it’s not our first rodeo.”

Nolan ignored her. “Once you’re in the corner, we’ll keep you covered as we move up. If the pax is dead, you come back to us. Got it?”

Emma nodded. Henry answered, “Got it.”

“Okay.” Nolan turned and relayed instructions to the rest of the squad. Guns were moved into position and everyone got set. David turned back to Emma and Henry. “Keep your heads down. Get ready to run.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Emma felt naked without her rifle as she and Henry ran along the wall. They both carried pistols, but given the amount of firepower their platoon was laying down in support of them, Emma’s rifle would have only been a hindrance. They slowed when they got about three quarters of the way up the wall, scanning the terrain, trying to find Emma’s missing body.

Henry tapped her shoulder and indicated with his hand that he’d spotted their victim another ten feet or so ahead. They moved up until they were perpendicular to the collapsed figure. Whoever it was had their feet towards the wall and were turned on their side, face down. Emma couldn’t tell anything about them. Henry shook his head unable to confirm anything either.

“Damn it,” Emma swore then made a slashing hand motion back towards their unit. She did not enjoy being on this side of their spray of bullets. The rifles cut out and the machine gun began to lay down a sustained line of fire walking away from their position.

Emma nodded at Henry and they rushed out to the open field. They both skidded to a stop at the side of the figure. Emma’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, is that a wom-?”

Henry had already dropped to his knees, more concerned with the obvious blood on the shoulder and upper back of the figure to care about if it was male or female. He pulled on the figure’s upper body to put them on their back.

“GUN!” Emma kicked out at the hand that came up as Henry rolled the woman over. The gun went flying but the woman kept swinging.

“No!” she screamed and a fist clocked Henry right in the jaw, but the kid stayed upright and caught the flailing arms.

“Jesus fucking Christ, lady!” Emma shouted, dropping to her knees as well, helping Henry restrain the fighting woman. “We’re here to help you!”

“I won’t...No!”

“Please, stop,” Henry pleaded, finally managing to pin one of her arms down to the ground with his knee. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“Hey! Hey!” Emma caught hold of the woman’s face with one hand and held it still. “We’re here to help you. You’re safe now. You’re _safe_.” She could already feel the strength fading from the woman’s struggles but manic brown eyes finally caught and held hers. “You’re safe. I promise. I got you.”

Like a switch, the woman’s eyes rolled up in her head and her body went limp. Emma, slightly panicked looked up at Henry. He shook his head. “She just passed out. She’s not dead.”

Relieved, Emma wiped a hand across her forehead; that had been way more intense than she'd expected. She exhaled, “All right, well, let’s get her out of this fucking field.”

“There’s no easy way to do it,” Henry said, moving towards her feet. “She’s hurt from top to bottom.”

Emma snaked her hands under the woman’s arm pits. “Good thing she’s passed out then. Let’s move.”

They made their way to the designated corner and hunkered down. Emma heard Henry ripping cloth out of his was as he immediately got to work. “Gunshot wound to the left shoulder, through and through.” He slapped a pressure bandage on it. “I don’t think I even want to know what’s going on with her foot.”

“Don’t…”

They both looked down when they heard the hoarse whisper. The woman began to stir, moaning slightly. Emma glanced at Henry and he held up two fingers signaling he’d given two doses of painkiller. She crouched down beside the woman. When brown eyes opened and locked on her, she tried to offer a reassuring smile. “Hi.”

“Hi?” she answered hesitantly.

“My name is Emma. This is Henry,” she said. “We’re going to take care of you, all right?”

The injured woman rolled her head to the side to eye Henry before looking back at Emma. She attempted to moisten her lips. “R-Regina…Mills.”

“Nice to meet you, Regina Mills,” Emma unfastened the hose for her water-bag from her shoulder and offered it. “Here, try taking a sip.”

“Easy,” Henry warned as the brunette latched on and drank deeply. “Not too much all at once.”

Dark eyes glared at him, but she relented, dropping back to the ground with a nod of thanks to Emma. “Is he old enough to be out here?”

Emma laughed at Henry’s scowl. “He’s the one patching you up right now so you might want to be nice to him.”

“What’s wrong with your foot?” Henry asked.

Regina shook her head, grimacing. “Don’t mess with it. You’ll only make it worse.”

Henry pulled up her pants leg. “It’s infected.”

“I know," she said tiredly. "Nothing you can do for it out here.”

“I can help,” Henry insisted.

“No. You can’t,” Regina retorted. “You’ll only make it worse. You’ve already got me doped up to the gills. I’ll live.”

Emma snorted at Henry’s complete look of indignation. “You’ve got a pretty clear head for being doped up.”

“High tolerance, plenty of practice,” Regina sighed, then winced. “Pain meds give me a headache though.”

Emma could see the squad moving up towards their position. Nolan was going to want answers. “So, uh, not for nothing, Mills, but who are you? What are you doing out here?”

“I’m a doctor.” She unsuccessfully winked at Henry when he began to blush. “I was on a medevac that went down.” She closed her eyes. “I was the only survivor.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Despite Henry’s protests, Regina was sitting up against the wall by the time the squad reached them. Fresh bandages wrapped around her upper left arm and shoulder with her arm immobilized in a makeshift sling. Her foot, as demanded, had been left alone. Henry had produced a pound cake from one of his many pockets and with a motherly sigh, the doctor had nibbled on it to pacify him.

Emma had wisely looked away before the doctor had seen her smirk. The woman was clearly exhausted and even though she hadn’t said it yet, Emma knew Regina had obviously lost someone she cared about on the helicopter. She had the shadow of loss in her eyes that Emma was unfortunately intimately familiar with. That shared loss is probably what had the blonde shifting her weight protectively when Hook approached and tried to get a better look at the injured woman.

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t push as he unshouldered Emma’s gear and handed it over. She slung her rifle, comforted by its familiar weight. She noticed Regina suddenly looking around appearing more worried. She knelt beside her. “Don’t worry,” she said, “these are my guys. Idiots all, but good guys.”

Regina frowned at her for a second then shook her head. “No, that’s not it, I…” she swallowed. “I had a pistol but now I can’t…I don’t know where it is.”

“Yeah, uh, I kind of kicked it out of your hand when you tried to shoot me with it.” She pointed out towards the field. “It’s still out there somewhere.”

The doctor’s eyes widened. “I tried to…” she shook her head. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Emma reassured her. “I would’ve done the same in your place.” She saw Nolan approaching them and stood. “No hard feelings.”

“Eyes on the perimeter,” Nolan barked, glaring as everyone besides Mulan was trying to catch a look at the unknown brunette. He knelt near Regina’s feet. “I’m Sergeant Nolan.”

“Everyone just calls him Charming,” Emma stage whispered to Regina.

“We’re going to get you out of here, Captain,” he said, ignoring the blonde. “As soon as we secure the area, we’ll call for a medevac.” 

“You’re a captain?” Emma asked; she hadn’t seen any rank insignia.

“She’s a doctor,” Charming said, pointing out the caduceus emblem on Regina’s fatigue shirt.

“Provisional rank,” Regina muttered before adding, “You should probably secure that structure first. He...there’s a stash of weapons in there.”

“He?” Charming asked, but Regina just held his gaze silently. He barked over his shoulder. “Booth, Jones, Scarlet, secure that structure.” He eyed her curiously. “Anything else I should know?”

“Not far from here, there’s a downed medevac helicopter.” She gestured past the wall in the direction she’d crawled away from. “If possible, the bodies of the pilots need to be recovered from the wreckage.”

“So that’s where you came from,” he said, rubbing his chin.

“Fell right out of the sky,” Regina murmured.

“Oi, Charming.” Will appeared at the edge of the wall. “You need to come take a look at this.”

Nolan looked at Regina. “Anything you want to tell me?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” she said tiredly.

Emma waited until Nolan cleared the wall then knelt down beside Regina. “What’s in there?”

Regina reluctantly opened her eyes to look at the blonde. She found the inquisitive green gaze too much to meet and turned away towards the field instead. “The man I killed.”

Emma nodded thoughtfully. “Same man that did that to you?” She gestured at Regina’s bloody shoulder.

Regina winced as she instinctively tried to move it. “Yes.”

“Sounds like self-defense to me,” Emma mused. “Not to mention, we’re in a combat zone.”

“I’m a doctor,” Regina said, looking down at her hands, bloodied and covered in dirt. “I took an oath to do no harm.”

Emma considered her. She knew this was something the doctor would have to square with on her own. “War is hell, doc.” She gave the brunette a little shrug when the woman looked at her. “You said he had weapons stashed in there?”

“Yes,” a hardness entered her voice. “A rocket launcher, a rifle with a scope on it-”

Emma stiffened beside her. “He was a sniper?”

Regina looked up at her. “Perhaps.”

They were interrupted from saying anything more when Henry walked up, shaking out a fatigue shirt. “It’ll be huge on you,” he said to Regina. “I got it from Herc, but it’s clean.”

The doctor gave Henry a tired smile. “Thank you.”

In the time it took them to get the doctor into the cleaner shirt, draping it over her left shoulder, Charming returned. Emma just raised an eyebrow in question; he nodded. “I think we know now why the sniper stopped taking shots at us last night.” He looked down at Regina. She seemed to shrink under his appreciation. “We owe you our thanks.”

Regina flinched at the praise. Emma wanted to go see the bastard that had killed Neal, but one look at Regina rooted her to the spot. The woman looked nervous as hell although she hid it well. She saw the doctor’s hand flex into a fist briefly. She’d said there had also been a rocket launcher with the bastard. “And the wreckage?”

Nolan nodded. “Mulan scouted out a ways and found it. We’re going to get the doctor out of here while Delta secures the crash site.” He patted Regina’s good leg. “I’m going to make the call for the medevac now. You’ll be out of here real soon.”

“Wait.” Regina hesitated then exhaled. “When you make the call for the medevac, don’t specify it’s for me.”

Charming frowned, his head tilted. “Why not?”

“It’ll turn into a fiasco,” she said then admitted, “I’m not even supposed to be out here. They’ll make it a priority mission; there will be generals dropping out of the sky. More people than is necessary will be put in danger.”

Charming glanced between Henry and Emma then gave Regina a placating smile. “I don’t think it will be that bad.”

The doctor’s chin came up, her eyes narrowed. She hated his condescending tone. “Ever hear of General Enrique Mills?”

“The four-star general they pulled out of retirement because they needed his expertise in guerilla warfare?” Henry supplied, his voice sounding an octave higher than usual. “ _That_ General Mills?”

Emma had a bad feeling about this and glanced at her sergeant sympathetically before looking at the doctor. “You’re related to him, aren’t you?”

“He’s my father.”


	8. Chapter 8

Regina jolted awake as the medevac helicopter touched down on the hospital helipad. Her eyes flew open as she felt the litter she was on being dragged out and jostled between corpsmen. She wondered if Charming had called in her name yet, wondered if that information had filtered down to the hospital staff. She heard shouts between the corpsmen and she was soon out from beneath the propeller blades staring up at an overcast sky, holding on for dear life to the side of the litter.

She’d never been a patient before, and honestly, it was terrifying. She could see the faces above her, carrying her, but they were moving so much and so fast, she couldn’t identify a single one as familiar. She realized belatedly that someone was barking at her, wanting to know her name, telling her she was going to be fine. She wanted to laugh at the rote words.

Pain shot through her when the litter was dropped none too gently onto a gurney. She was being manhandled, rolled so the litter could be removed. Everything was happening so fast it was easy to get lost in it.

“All right, what have we got?”

Regina’s heart broke at the sound of Zelena’s accented, no-nonsense voice cutting over the din of activity surrounding her. Then more voices filtered in as recognizable as she heard Jefferson rattle off the injuries she’d had Charming report her as having.

“Let’s get her uniform off,” Zelena ordered, pulling on latex gloves. The doctor scanned her without truly seeing her. “You’re going to be fine.”

Regina heard Jefferson swear just before she felt a tug on her good boot. She tried to reach a hand out to Zelena, but missed the quickly moving doctor spectacularly. And she’d apparently lost her voice entirely.

“What is it?” Zelena asked Jefferson, looking towards her patient’s lower extremities to see what had the usually unflappable orderly confounded.

“Not exactly medical standard,” Jefferson remarked, gesturing at the duct tape.

“What the hell?” Zelena frowned then looked back up, intending to get answers from her patient when she finally saw Regina. “Oh, my fucking God! _Regina_!”

Tears rolled down Regina’s face as the damn finally broke, then she was being smothered as Zelena bent over and hugged her awkwardly. She groaned at the pain in her shoulder but refused to let go when Zelena swore and tried to pull away.

“What the hell is going on?”

Regina released a watery chuckle against Zelena’s cheek and let her pull back but not out of reach. All the anger and confusion on Captain Kathryn Midas’ face drained away when she was finally able to see the patient. A rare smile appeared. “Well, welcome back, Doctor Mills.”

“Thanks,” she said quietly, keeping hold of Zelena’s hand.

“Jefferson, I believe Doctor West and I can handle this. Please inform Major Drake that our missing doctor has returned.”

“Of course,” he grinned at Regina. “Glad to have you back, Doc.” She managed to acknowledge him with a weak smile. “I’ll send Kristoff over with a saw for that boot.”

Midas glanced down to see what he was talking about. She raised an eyebrow as she started pulling on gloves. “Doctor West, I’m afraid you’re going to need both hands to treat that wound.”

Zelena cleared her throat and gently pulled her hand free from Regina’s. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.” She quickly wiped her face off and pulled out her scissors to begin cutting away Regina’s uniform top.

Kristoff appeared, beaming a goofy smile at Regina before being snapped at by Captain Midas to set up privacy screens. “Word is getting around quickly,” she muttered, getting to work on getting Regina’s tape covered boot off. “Did you sustain your injuries in the crash?”

“Yes,” Regina grit out as Midas peeled the boot off her swollen, inflamed foot. Her nails dug into the rubber mattress as she held a scream deep in her throat.

She felt Zelena cutting away the bandage on her shoulder and looked up nervously. When concerned blue eyes flashed to hers, her heart rate increased tenfold. After all, even an idiot like Whale would know the difference between a gunshot wound and a frag wound. And her shoulder was definitely not a frag wound like Regina had ordered Nolan to call it in as.

“Uhm, Regina?” Zelena was carefully removing the bandage, reaching under her to get all of it. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“What is it?” Midas asked, standing up from examining the brunette’s foot.

Regina was saved from answering by the appearance of Mal. The statuesque, blonde major swept past the screens. Jefferson had obviously told her it was Regina, but the look of relief on her face suggested she hadn’t believed him. She strode immediately to the head of the bed, stroked some of the sweat-damp hair away from Regina’s face. Her smile was shaky. “Hello, dear.”

Regina’s first thought was that Mal looked tired, like maybe she hadn’t slept while Regina had been missing. The same piece that had broken when she’d seen Zelena threatened to break again. “I’m sorry, Mal,” she whispered and grabbed the older woman by the wrist. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sssshhh, it’s all right.” She transferred her hold so she could grip Regina’s hand. “You’re safe now, Regina. It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not.” She shook her head. “They’re dead, Mal. They’re both dead. Ruby and Graham and I left them there…I left them…”

“Regina. Breathe,” Mal said, her tone calm but leaving no room for argument as she cut her off. She stroked the younger doctor's forehead. “Just breathe.”

Regina nodded and laid her head back, blinking up at the ceiling. Her foot had finally stopped throbbing and she realized Midas had probably numbed it. She blinked and thought the captain must have started her on an IV; she hadn’t even felt the needle. Slowly, she realized Zelena was talking and she wanted to stop her, to interrupt her, but she was too frightened.

“The report said multiple frag wounds,” Zelena said quietly, “but this…”

Mal leaned over slightly to get a better look; her eyes flashed down to Regina. Midas appeared at Zelena’s side; her eyebrows went up in surprise. “That is not-”

“In the report,” Mal said, cutting her off, still watching Regina carefully. “In the report, her injuries will be documented as multiple frag wounds.” 

Midas looked like she was about to object until Mal caught her eye. The Dragon raised an eyebrow. “Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Zelena agreed easily, bending over to continue prepping the wound in question.

Kathryn glanced down and caught Regina’s fearful gaze; she saw the white knuckle grip Regina still had on Mal’s hand. She exhaled and nodded. “Her foot is going to require surgery, but she shouldn’t lose it.”

“Good. I think between the three of us we can handle it,” Mal said. “I’ll call Locksley in to hold down receiving while we’re busy.” She squeezed Regina’s hand. “Try and relax. We’re going to take good care of you.”

“I’ll go set up,” Midas said and left.

Zelena raised a questioning eyebrow at Mal. The major shrugged. “I’ll have to buy her a bottle of scotch, but she’ll go along with it.”

“I-I can explain,” Regina offered quietly.

“Not right now,” Mal said. “Right now, Zelena is going to stay with you while Midas preps and I call your father. He’ll probably be here by the time you wake up from surgery.”

Regina almost started crying again, but she managed to nod and reluctantly let go of the older woman’s hand. She shivered and realized she was lying there naked when Zelena shook out a blanket to pull over her. She had never felt more vulnerable in her life. Thankfully, Zelena noticed her shaking and took her hand again. “Don’t worry, lil sis. We’re going to take care of you.”

She nodded, tried to believe her. Tried to think- “Oh! In my pants pocket, there’s,” her voice caught and she made herself take a breath, “I have some papers and…and their dog tags.”

“Ruby’s?” Zelena’s voice was rough.

Regina nodded. She’d known her sister and the pilot had hooked up a few times at parties, but she’d never known if it had been anything real. “And Graham’s.”

“I’ll make sure Jefferson handles them appropriately.” 

“Thank you.”

Zelena hesitated then asked, “What the hell happened out there, Regina?”

It was no surprise to her that Zelena would ask, and Regina knew she would have to tell her story. Even if they managed to cover it up in the official reports, she would owe Mal and Zelena the truth. Midas, too, if she wanted it. She’d told Emma, but that had been easy. Emma was out there; she knew what it was like and hadn’t judged Regina for her actions. But that had been out there. Regina wasn’t sure it was something she could talk about here, in the hospital, in an actual building with people that knew her before she’d set foot on that chopper.

“The OR is ready for you, Doctor West,” Jefferson said, rapping a fist against the screen.

“All right.” She fiddled with something out of Regina’s sight then said, “Just relax, Regina, we’ll talk later.”

A slow, sleepy warmth flooded over Regina and she dully lifted her hand to see an IV taped to the back of it. “Did you just-?”

She was knocked out before she could worry anymore.


	9. Chapter 9

_Emma bit the inside of her cheek in an effort not to laugh. Charming looked downright indignant at being ordered to call in a report that was inaccurate. It went against every grain of his being to even slightly alter the truth. “You want me to lie?”_

_Regina sighed, her exhaustion becoming more evident with every passing moment. “I’m telling you to delay, Sergeant.”_

_He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why?”_

_“Do you always question your officers?” the doctor snapped back. When he didn’t back down, Regina exhaled and shifted uncomfortably against the wall. “I’m trying not to endanger more lives than necessary. If you tell them everything at once, that you have the medevac wreckage and a female officer with multiple frag wounds,” Henry shifted his weight next to Emma, “HQ will put two and two together.”_

_“Ma’am, your shoulder is not-”_

_“Please,” she cut the medic off, “trust me on this. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt on my behalf.”_

_“Fine,” Nolan said eventually, dropping his arms. “I’ll call for a regular medevac.”_

_“Thank you,” she said tiredly._

_“Once you’re in the air, I’ll call in the wreckage.” He rubbed his chin. “At that point, I’m going to need to let them know you’ve been located as well.”_

_Regina was too tired to fight him anymore and he had a point. She nodded. “Once I’m in the air.”_

_With that finally settled, Nolan left to find his radioman. Henry crouched down beside the doctor looking incredibly uncomfortable. “Ma’am, that is not a frag wound.”_

_“I’m well aware, Henry,” she said, “but if we can keep that between us for now, my life would be easier.”_

_Emma grinned at the change in Regina’s demeanor between ordering Charming to do things her way and almost affectionately speaking to Henry. She credited the medic’s boyish looks. “Hey kid, what happens in the bush…”_

_Henry eyed both of them then nodded. He hesitated then asked, “And your foot?”_

_“Impaled during the crash,” Regina answered truthfully._

_Emma winced at the word impaled and was thankful when Scarlet called Henry over to his position. She’d been hoping to get a moment alone with the doctor before she got evac’d. “Hey, uhm, Doc,” she said, suddenly feeling weirdly shy, “would you mind writing to us when you get back? Just to, you know, let us know you’re okay and all. I know I, uhm, **we** will be thinking about you and it would just be easier if, you know, we heard from you.”_

_Emma knew she’d started rambling and she suddenly couldn’t quite find the courage to look down at the brunette. It had been a long time since she sounded like an idiotic teenager; it had been even longer since she **felt** like an idiotic teenager. After a moment without an answer though, she finally looked down and saw that Regina had her eyes closed as she rested against the wall. Emma wondered if the woman had even heard her. _

_It wasn’t until they could hear the helicopter inbound to their position that with a small smirk, Regina asked for her to write down her contact information._

3 Months Later

Emma’s knee was bouncing. They were brought off the front and back to the rear for a few days rest and recuperation. They were supposed to relax, eat, drink too much, and sleep. Yet, so far, all they’d done was sit through an ‘atta boy’ speech, a briefing on current events, an awards ceremony, and currently their safety speech. Emma just wanted to be released; she had a hospital to find and a certain doctor to visit.

“How do you even know where you’re going?” Hook asked from beside her, leaning back against the metal benches.

“There’s only one hospital on this base, and it’s the hospital she works at.”

“What if she’s not at work?” August asked from her other side.

“What _if_ they don’t even let you in once you find the hospital?” Scarlet asked, leaning across August to join the whispered conversation.

Emma glared at him. Talk about borrowing trouble. “For fuck’s sake, it’s a hospital, why wouldn’t they let me in?”

“She’s an officer, isn’t she?” he argued. “There’s rules against fraternizing wit’ officers.”

“We’re _not_ fraternizing,” Emma hissed, trying to keep her voice down. “I just want to see her.”

“Because you want to fraternize with her,” August pointed out unhelpfully.

“You have been exchanging messages,” Mulan added unexpectedly from the bench in front of them. “It could be seen as a personal relationship.”

Emma’s jaw dropped; August giggled beside her. “Well, if you won’t listen to us…”

“It’s _not_ a personal relationship!” Even if sometimes in her head she wondered if it could be. “We are _not_ fraternizing.” Despite how beat up and tired Regina had looked the day they’d found her, the entire squad had agreed she was beautiful. “And we’ve exchanged three letters. All of which were very formal and mostly were just her thanking us for helping her.”

“And yet, you just want to pop by her place of work for a surprise visit and remind her of what was probably the worst day of her life.” Hook shrugged when she glared at him. “Keep some perspective, Swannie. She might not appreciate a surprise visit.”

“At-ten-tion Company!”

They all jumped to their feet and stood at attention, cutting off the conversation. After a couple more minutes of guidance, they were finally released. A cheer went up as people started clearing out to find whatever vice they put at the top of their priority list.

Jones pulled the flask out of his pocket and popped the top on it, taking a long swig. Emma waited until everyone else had moved off before facing him. His last comment had rung a little close to home. “Do you think I shouldn’t go?”

“What?” he looked genuinely confused. “You’ve been talking about seeing her ever since we found out we were coming here.”

“Yeah, but, you’re right,” she admitted. “She probably doesn’t need a reminder of the shittiest day of her life.”

“Give me strength,” he swore, dropping his head back. “Swan, go. Find her. Say hello. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

He jumped down off the bench and Emma followed him. “But what if she tells me to fuck off?”

“What if she doesn’t?” he raised his flask in toast to her and wandered towards their temporary barracks.

She watched him go for a minute before spinning on her heel and heading out of their little corner of the world. Now she just had to find a way to make it across to the other side of base.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour later, Emma was approaching the hospital’s receiving doors. Her palms were sweaty and her heart felt like it was beating somewhere in her throat. She glanced around and tried to listen in before she slowly pushed open one of the swinging doors. Everything seemed quiet, thankfully, and she eased inside.

There was one guy stretched out on a gurney, but he didn’t look injured, just asleep. Emma turned and found herself looking straight at two brunettes, neither of them the one she was looking for, staring back at her inquisitively.

“Are you injured, soldier?” the one with the longer hair asked, a nurse.

“What? Oh, uh, no.” She cleared her throat. “I was looking for, uh, someone.”

The brunette with the pixie cut smiled at her. She wore the outfit of a volunteer and Emma knew they were trained to be friendly and helpful. “Who are you looking for? Maybe we can help.”

Emma saw the nurse roll her eyes. “Uhm, Regina, I mean, Doctor Mills.”

Both women regarded her with much more interest. The nurse crossed her arms over her chest. “And who are you?”

“Emma Swan,” she answered.

The nurse’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, but _who_ are you?”

“I, uh,” Emma shifted her weight, this was going horrible, “is Reg- Doctor Mills around?”

“She doesn’t work in this ward anymore,” the volunteer said. “She’s up on the third floor with recovery now.”

“Mary Margaret!” the nurse growled.

The volunteer looked back at her. “What?”

“You don’t just tell…” At the innocent doe-eyed look Mary Margaret gave her, the nurse just shook her head. “You know what? I’m going on break.” She pointed a finger at Emma. “If you’re not hurt, you need to get out of my receiving bay.”

Emma was more than happy to get out of the receiving bay. She hoped she never found herself in it again.

“Do you know where the recovery ward is?” Mary Margaret asked. “Come on, I’ll show you.” She looked over her shoulder as they walked. “Are you one of Doctor Mills’ patients?”

“I’m, uhm, no.” Regina’s letters hadn't mentioned that she wasn’t working in receiving anymore; it had taken Emma two letters to find out that was the department where Regina worked. “Why is she in recovery? Is she all right?”

“Oh, she’s doing great. The recovery ward has fewer hours and she can get off her feet when she needs to. Not that Doctor Mills would ever admit that she needed to sit down. After her incident with the medevac,” she paused her rambling, “you know about that, right?”

Emma nodded. Yeah, she knew about it. Mary Margaret looked slightly crestfallen as she muttered a small ‘oh’. Then she shrugged and continued down the hall. Emma frowned at her back. If she hadn’t known, she was pretty sure Regina wouldn’t want some random volunteer telling a stranger all about it.

“Well, she’s almost completely recovered from all that,” Mary Margaret reassured her. “The first couple of weeks were rough, but she’s practically her old self again. Oh, here we are.”

They went through a set of swinging doors and Emma immediately spotted Regina at the other end of the ward. A knot in her chest finally relaxed a little when she saw the woman she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

“Stay here for a moment and I’ll go get her,” Mary Margaret said.

Emma nodded but didn’t take her eyes off the doctor as she made notations on a chart. She watched as Regina glanced up, noticing the volunteer approaching. Emma smirked a little at the irritation that crossed the doctor’s features. Then Regina looked past the pixie haired brunette and caught sight of Emma.

Emma couldn’t say the doctor paled but she did recognize a flash of fear and panic before it was buried beneath indifference. Oh hell. That wasn’t what she wanted at all, but it was too late now as Regina was walking down the aisle towards her.

She had a walking boot on her foot, and she plastered on a fake smile when she reached Emma. “This is a surprise.”

A horrible surprise. Emma wanted to kick herself. “Uh, hi.”

A real look of concern colored the brown eyes. “You aren’t hurt are you?”

“What? Oh, uh, no. No, I just…” she took a breath. “We got pulled back for a few days rest, and I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing.”

Regina ducked her head; her hand shook as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m fine.”

“Uh huh.” Up close Emma could see that the doctor did not look well. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face looked a bit sunken like she’d lost too much weight too quickly.

“Yeah, I’m making it,” Regina said, gamely looking up but her gaze didn’t stay on Emma’s. She looked past her shoulder instead. “How are your guys? Still idiots?”

“Oh yeah,” Emma said easily.

“And Henry?” She managed to hold Emma’s eyes for a moment longer.

“He’s fine. Said to tell you hey.”

That made the doctor smile. A brief expression but genuine. Hell, Emma should’ve let him do this.

“Well, that’s good,” Regina said. She crossed her arms over her abdomen, looking down. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Emma nodded, drummed her fingers against her pants leg. “I, uh, was wondering-”

“I should probably get back to work,” Regina said, cutting her off.

What? But she hadn't even... “Oh. Right.”

The doctor took a step back. “I’m glad you stopped by, Miss Swan.” She gave her a brittle smile. “Thanks for checking on me.” She took another step backwards. “Tell everyone hello for me.”

And then she was gone, leaving Emma standing alone in the middle of the aisle, watching Regina limp back up the ward.

“Well, it was a good effort,” a voice said from Emma's left.

Emma looked over to see a soldier grinning at her from the bed. Bandages swaddled his chest and the lower half of his right arm had been amputated. He chuckled and Emma thought at least she had amused someone. She shrugged, trying to play off her disappointment. “It could’ve gone worse.”

He laughed. “I hear you.”

“Take it easy, all right,” she said, bumping her fist against the foot of his bed.

“Keep your head down.”

She nodded, gave one last look up the ward where the doctor was studiously keeping her back towards Emma and headed back out the swinging doors. She stopped short at the sight of a statuesque blonde major standing in the hall. The woman had her arms folded across her chest as she eyed Emma critically.

The hairs on the back of Emma’s neck went up the way they usually did just before a firefight broke out. She swallowed and dipped her head to the officer. “Ma’am.”

The blue eyes narrowed. “How do you know Doctor Mills?”

And her day had officially just gotten worse.


	10. Chapter 10

“Walk with me, soldier.” The Major didn’t leave room for argument as she began to walk away. Emma hurried to catch up to her. Nothing like running towards your own death. “What’s your name?”

“Emma Swan, ma’am.” They turned a corner and Emma lunged forward to open the door for the officer. She got a side-eye for her effort and she blushed, but the major walked through ahead of her.

“Are you one of Doctor Mills’ former patients?”

“No, ma’am,” Emma answered, surprised when she was led outside. She followed the major as they walked around the side of the hospital, finally stopping at a rickety looking picnic table.

“Are you a friend from home?” the Major asked as she leaned her hip against the table and fished a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket.

“No, ma’am.” Emma was surprised when she was offered a cigarette. She accepted and was finally able to read the woman’s name tag – Drake.

Major Drake lit up, took a drag, and eyed the younger woman as she exhaled. “How do you know Regina?”

She called her Regina. So, maybe this wasn’t just an officer thing. Emma handed the lighter back. “I was part of the squad that found her after her medevac incident.” She remembered how Mary Margaret had referred to the wreck. 

“You mean after the medevac crash that killed two of her friends and left Regina injured and MIA in a combat zone for more than twenty-four hours.”

Emma coughed. “Uhm, yeah…that.”

The major flicked ash from her cigarette. “What do you know about what happened to Regina out there?”

Emma kind of felt like the major had already summed it up pretty well. “Uh, she was on a medevac mission that she probably shouldn’t have been on.” The older woman hummed in agreement. “They were shot down by an RPG. The pilots died in the crash and Reg- Doctor Mills was injured. She got herself out of the wreckage and took shelter in a nearby structure.”

“What else?”

Clearly, the major was fishing but Emma didn’t know what she was looking for. “Uhm, she’s lucky to be alive. We shelled the hell out of the area she was in that day, even called in air support at one time. I don’t really know-”

Drake ground out the butt of her smoke. “How did she get shot, Miss Swan?”

Oh.

_Oh!_

Well, shit. She’d heard Regina argue with Henry and Charming about her diagnosis, what injury to call in and to specifically not say she had been shot, but there was no way the major knew that. Emma could play dumb. “She was injured in the crash, ma’am.”

Sharp, blue eyes scrutinized her and Emma was thankful for the cigarette giving her something to do.

“I was in the operating room, Miss Swan. I know the difference between a gunshot wound and shrapnel. Close range powder burns are hard to miss.”

Emma swallowed tightly and shrugged. “I don’t know anything about that, ma’am. You’d have to ask her.”

“Regina doesn’t talk about it,” she spat, glaring off into the distance. She sighed, “I’m not trying to get her in trouble, Miss Swan, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m simply trying to understand what she went through. I want to help her.”

Emma nodded. She believed the major; she wasn’t going to give up Regina’s secrets to her, but she believed the older woman meant well. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t help you.”

The major eyed her for another long minute then stood up, pocketing her cigarettes. “Well, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I’ve kept you from your R&R long enough.”

Emma was pretty sure there hadn’t been any choice in the matter on her part, but she understood officer speak well enough to bob her head as the major began to walk away. If only she’d been smart enough to leave it at that. “Why are you making her work?”

Drake froze. Emma immediately regretted saying anything when the major slowly turned back to face her. She looked down, studying the tops of her boots, but the major stayed silent until Emma risked a glance up.

“I beg your pardon?” Drake moved until she was directly in front of Emma again. “I know that we were having an informal conversation, Miss Swan, but that does not mean you can mouth off to a superior officer.”

Emma straightened, knowing she’d put her foot in it. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Now,” Drake held her gaze then said, “if you have a question for me, ask it with respect, and I will consider answering it.”

“She doesn’t look well, ma’am. I was concerned for her well-being and wondering why she was working if she was still hurt.” Emma tried to make her question sound professional.

“If you think anyone is forcing Regina to work, you know even less about the situation than I thought,” Drake said finally. “If Regina doesn’t work, she doesn’t sleep. It was a struggle to keep her on bed rest for two weeks. I have her working in the least stressful ward this hospital offers, and,” she huffed out a humorless laugh, “she hates me for it.”

Emma smirked, the image of Regina pulling rank on Nolan in middle of a combat zone sprung to mind and she could only imagine what kind of hell she gave the major.

“Are there any other of my command decisions you would like explained, Miss Swan?” Drake asked, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

Emma shifted uncomfortably. She knew she should quit while she was behind. “She looked like she was in pain.”

“I imagine she is in a great deal of pain on a daily basis,” Drake agreed. “I can prescribe her pain pills, but she refuses to take them. Regina knows her limits and ignores them. Every few days she is forced to acknowledge them.”

It seemed that Major Drake truly did have a soft spot for Regina and Emma felt a little bad for questioning her. “I guess the old adage is true then, doctors make the worst patients.”

“You have no idea,” Drake sniffed. “Stubborn as mules the whole lot of us, _especially_ Regina Mills.”

“Yeah, but, if she was any less stubborn, she might not have survived out there,” Emma suggested.

“You have no idea what Regina is capable of, Miss Swan,” Drake said, a fond almost proud note in her tone. “While she was missing, I never doubted for a second she would survive, but you’re not wrong. I just hope that stubborn nature of hers doesn’t drive her to an early grave.”

Emma frowned, curious what she meant, but the major seemed a bit flushed after that confession. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. “I should be getting back,” she said, turning towards the hospital. “Stay safe out there, Miss Swan.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Emma said, watching her go. The conversation had been enlightening and confusing, and her urge to see Regina and make sure she was okay had only been reinforced. She needed to speak to Regina again; she needed to know she was all right. The woman may have given her the brush off earlier, but Emma could wait. She could wait all day; she had no plans.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Emma knew she had a few hours so she found the closest PX and mess hall. Armed with a few magazines and her pockets stuffed with snacks, she then found a spot that gave her a good view of the receiving bay doors. After watching the perimeter all the time, she’d become very good at being patient. She settled in to wait for a certain brunette to leave the hospital.

A few hours later, a cackling laughter woke her out of a light doze. A cluster of people were exiting the receiving bay doors and heading for the barracks. A woman with wild, red hair had apparently found something very amusing as she laughed loudly again. Behind them, the doors pushed open again and there, trailing behind the others, was Regina. Emma scrambled to her feet and slid slightly down the hill where she’d been resting. Her hurried movements caught Regina’s attention and she looked up.

Emma almost missed the expression on Regina’s face at realizing who was half-falling down a hill towards her. Almost. She supposed a flash of panic followed quickly by indifference was better than anger. Emma skid to a stop a few feet away from her.

“Emma,” Regina glanced towards where the rest of her co-workers had continued walking, “what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see you,” Emma said.

“You _did_ see me.”

There was definitely a note of irritation in Regina’s voice now. Emma found she preferred that to indifference. She leaned in to the doctor’s space. “Not really.”

Brown eyes glared at green before looking away. Regina exhaled, “Indifference didn’t work?”

Emma shook her head, smirking.

Regina ran a hand through her hair, her gaze fixed on some distant point. “What is it you want, Miss Swan?”

“I just,” Emma said, leaning into Regina’s line of sight, “I wanted to check in with you, see if you’re all right.”

“Well, I’m not,” Regina snapped. “I’m not all right. So, what?” She shrugged and immediately winced, clenching her jaw and her eyes shut. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’ll be fine, Emma. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“But I do,” Emma said immediately. “I do…worry about you.”

“Why?” Regina asked. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know more about you then some people,” Emma argued, thinking about the major. “I’d like to know more.”

The doctor scoffed. “No, Emma-”

“Hey, Regina!” The redheaded doctor had returned. “Everything okay here?” She glared at Emma. “Who are you?”

“It’s okay, Zelena,” Regina said tiredly. “I’m fine.”

Zelena looked between the two of them. Then she focused on Emma, stepping slightly in front of Regina. “Hey troop, I think it’s time for you to leave.”

Emma squared up to the doctor. “I’ll go as soon as _Regina_ tells me to leave.”

The doctor and Emma both looked to Regina. She slowly raised her head, “I think you should go.”

Emma clenched her jaw. The redhead looked triumphant so Emma just gave them both a curt nod and spun on her heel. She’d go back to her side of the base, find her guys, and get smashed. Oblivion was what she needed, maybe then she’d finally be able to get the wounded doctor out of her head.

She circled around to the front of the hospital and started to head for the main road. With any luck, she could hitch another ride back.

“Hey, blondie!”

Emma stopped, turned back towards the front doors of the hospital and saw the redheaded doctor standing there. She glared. “What?”

Zelena didn’t look happy either. “Regina wants you to wait a minute,” she practically growled. “She can’t walk that fast.”

“What?” Emma repeated, confused until she saw Regina appear at Zelena’s shoulder a moment later. She watched the two doctors have a brief exchange of words before Regina limped past her. Zelena glared at Emma once more before ducking back into the hospital.

“Thanks for waiting,” Regina said, limping slower than Emma had seen her move earlier in the day.

“You’re giving me whiplash, Doc,” Emma groused, hooking her hands in her back pockets.

The brunette smirked, didn’t apologize. She gestured towards the hospital mess hall. “Want to join me for a terrible cup of coffee?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to let you know we have about 3 chapters left after this one.   
> Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you're enjoying!

The coffee was indeed terrible. It was better than anything Emma had drank in the field, but she wasn’t so far removed from the world that she didn’t know a bad cup of coffee when she drank it. The doctors’ mess hall was situated at the back of the regular mess hall which was currently being used as a make-shift theater. Emma had winced as she walked past the speakers turned up as loud as they would go. If the situation had been any different, she would’ve been tempted to sit down and watch the movie, some sci-fi alien monster flick.

“Hey, sister,” a rough voice said, “I can rustle you up some dinner if you want. We need to put some meat back on that skinny frame of yours.”

Regina smiled tiredly at the mess hall sergeant. “Thank you, Leroy. I would appreciate it,” she glanced at Emma still fixing her coffee at the side table, “if you have enough for two.”

Leroy glared at the blonde woman before relinquishing his mop and heading towards the kitchen. Emma caught the glare as she sidled up to Regina. “What the hell is his problem?”

“You, I would imagine,” Regina said as she limped over to a table. She couldn’t help the sigh of relief when she sat down and took her weight off her foot.

“Yeah, but why?” Emma asked, dropping into the seat across from Regina. “What’d I do?”

Regina sipped her coffee. “Nothing. It’s just you’re here with me, and he doesn’t know you.”

“Is he…jealous?” she lowered her voice.

Regina shook her head. “Protective, I think.”

Emma finally thought she understood. “There’s a lot of that going around.”

“What do you mean?”

Emma shrugged. “Well, him. That redheaded doctor. The blonde major lady. Even that brunette nurse down in the receiving bay.” She missed Regina’s look of surprise as she watched Leroy emerge from the kitchen. “They all must really care about you.”

Leroy carefully placed a metal tray with meat, gravy, mashed potatoes, and a small scoop of spiced apples on the table in front of Regina. He even neatly arranged her silverware before throwing Emma another look. “Yours is up there.”

Emma glanced over to the serving window. She resisted laughing at his passive aggressive swing. She didn’t care what Regina thought, there was definitely some jealousy there. Maybe Regina should start her own fan club. “Thank you, Sergeant.” She went up, retrieved her tray and silverware and came back to the table in time to hear Leroy.

“If she’s bothering you, let me know, and I’ll throw her ass out.”

Regina gave him a resigned nod. “Thank you, Leroy.”

He grunted and stalked off. Emma sat back down. Her mouth watered and she was happy for the hot food even if her portions were not quite as neatly arranged as the good doctor’s. She hadn’t realized how hungry she’d been until she smelled it. She dug in, piling a bite of meat and potato onto her fork all in one.

“What did Mal say?”

Emma froze, her fork halfway to her mouth, meat balanced precariously. She desperately searched the last few minutes and found nothing in her mind that gave Regina’s question context. “I’m sorry, what?”

Regina looked up. She wasn’t eating so much as just moving the food around on her plate. She saw Emma’s look of confusion. “Major Drake. You talked to her?”

Emma relaxed. “Oh, yeah.” She ate her bite, had to chew longer than she expected, the meat might have been pieces of an old tire, swallowed with some difficulty, then said, “She asked me how I knew you and if I knew what happened to you out there.” Regina stilled and Emma quickly tried to reassure her. “I didn’t tell her anything. Told her you were injured in the crash was all I knew.”

Regina slowly exhaled, blinked a few times, nodded to herself. “She’s never asked me, not directly.”

“I think she genuinely cares about you.” Emma wanted to reach across the table and take the doctor’s hand but managed to control herself.

“She does,” Regina agreed. “She stayed with me for the whole surgery. My father was there when I woke in recovery, but he couldn’t stay long. Every other time I woke up, either Mal or Zelena were there.”

Emma gave her a small smile. “Mal thinks you hate her for putting you in the recovery ward.”

“I don’t hate her,” she said, shaking her head. “Daddy wanted to pull me out completely, send me home. Mal asked me what I wanted to do then argued with him that she could keep me here and out of harm’s way.”

“A major argued with a general?” Emma asked, even more in awe of the blonde officer. Regina simply smirked in reply. Emma heaped another bite of food onto her fork. “So, what’s the big deal anyway? Why don’t you want anyone to know you got shot?”

A shadow entered the brown eyes. She speared a spiced apple on her fork. “It would cause a lot of questions.” She smiled gamely. “The paperwork alone would be a bitch.”

Emma ignored the false levity. “It was self-defense, Regina.”

“I’m not exactly a combatant, Emma,” she retorted. “I’m a civilian that killed an insurgent. I shouldn’t have even been out there, much less, armed and killing people.”

Emma frowned, gearing herself up to argue when a series of gunshots sounded. Less than a day removed from combat, Emma reacted on instinct. She upended the table, grabbed Regina by her shirtfront and pulled her to the floor behind it. She covered the doctor with her body as she pulled out a pistol from the back of her waistband. If the enemy were coming through the perimeter, they’d have to go through her first.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Emma.”

Regina tried to get up but Emma only tightened her grip, keeping her pinned down. The blonde was breathing heavy, watching over the edge of the table. Ready for a fight.

“Emma, please,” Regina managed to get an arm free and tugged on the soldier’s sleeve. “It’s only the movie.”

There was a roaring sound in Emma's ears and she could hear at least one woman screaming. Regina was pulling on her, saying something. Emma looked down at the tugging on her sleeve. “What?”

“It’s just the movie,” Regina repeated. “We’re fine.” She chuckled, trying to break the tension. “They’ve been playing the same damn movie all week. I’ve got it memorized.”

Emma blinked, looked around, listened. The yelling and screaming were gone. No one was coming through the door. The only sound was the accented voices of the actors from the movie. Then she spotted Leroy standing just inside the doorway to the kitchen, brandishing a mop handle. When she met his gaze, he slowly shook his head. His eyes said that he knew more about war than just serving food and mopping floors. “It’s just the movie, sister.”

Emma felt the blood rush to her face in absolute morbid embarrassment. Oh shit. She looked down and realized Regina was still lying on the floor, half-pinned down by Emma’s knee. Oh fuck! Emma jumped backwards, scrambling off the brunette. “I’m sorry. I am so fucking sorry. Oh my God, are you hurt? Did I hurt you? Oh fuck.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay, Emma,” Regina said, accepting help up from Leroy. She grimaced and rolled her shoulder a bit.

“Oh fuck,” Emma cried, “I did hurt you. Damn it! Oh fuck. I’m sorry. I never…I would never…”

“What the hell you doing with a gun anyway?” Leroy grumbled, resetting the table.

“Leroy,” Regina breathed out, “not now.”

Emma wasn’t supposed to have it. She knew that; they all knew that, but she hadn’t been about to walk around without a weapon of some sort. And she still had it out. “Damn it.” She quickly tucked it back into the back of her pants. Her hand passed over something cold and wet on her pants. She looked down at her hand and realized she had gravy on it. Her mortification cup runneth over.

She and Regina were both covered in the remnants of dinner.

Regina realized what she was looking at and looked down at herself. She huffed out a humorless laugh. “Trust me, Emma, I’ve been covered in worse.”

The dark humor didn’t help. “I’m just going to…I am so sorry. I’ll…get out of your hair. I didn’t mean-”

“Emma.” Regina cut her off. “Stop talking and follow me.” She started limping towards the back doors. “Leroy, I’ll make it up to you.” She stopped and gestured again for the blonde to follow her. “Come on.”

They left the mess hall and walked for a few minutes in silence until Regina turned past a row of stacked sand bags and headed for a row of buildings.

“We’re going to your barracks?” Emma asked, eyes darting around. She was pretty sure this would be considered out of bounds, part of that whole no fraternizing thing.

“There are some perks to being a captain, provisional or not,” Regina explained. “I have my own room.” She pushed open a door, gesturing for Emma to follow her. “Five of us share this building, but we share the shower trailer outside with all the medical staff.”

There was a common area just inside the door. Emma saw a few fold out chairs, a battered tv with scattered movies, a medium sized refrigerator, and an oscillating fan. Looked cozy. She followed Regina down the short hall to the last door on the right and stepped inside. The room wasn’t much but it was better than anywhere Emma had slept the past year. It had a standard cot with a sleeping bag on top of it, a fan, a makeshift book shelf, another crooked set of cubby holes filled with clothes and personal items, and on top sat a music station plugged into a dangling power strip.

Emma went straight for the music, stopping herself before she actually reached out for it. A lack of regular music was one of her biggest losses out in the field. Music had always been her best way of escape.

“I’m just going to go get freshened up a bit,” Regina said reaching past Emma to pick up a few things. “There are some clean scrubs there that you can change into. They should fit.”

Emma nodded shamefacedly. “Thanks.”

“Just, you know make yourself at home, I’ll uh, be right back.” She didn’t leave and instead stood there awkwardly, fidgeting.

“Go do what you got to do,” Emma said, smiling warmly at the doctor to try and reassure her. “I’m really not trying to get in your way here or anything. I mean, I can leave.” She didn’t want to but making Regina nervous in her own room wasn’t what she wanted either.

“No. No, please stay,” Regina said quickly, then flushed and turned on her heel. “I’ll be back.”

Emma snickered a little then waited to make sure Regina was actually gone before she quickly changed clothes. She hung hers up on a nail to dry and turned back to the music selection, flipping through a few playlists.

“Hey, Regina, you in-?” The door was pushed open mid-question and the redheaded doctor from before barged in and stopped dead at the sight of Emma. “Bloody hell.” She glanced around unnecessarily. “Where’s Regina?”

“She went to get cleaned up,” Emma said, stuffing her hands in her pockets. She felt smaller in the scrubs, like she was playing dress up. “Said she’ll be back in a minute.”

Zelena eyed her suspiciously then leaned against the doorframe. “What are you doing here?”

“Regina brought me here.”

The doctor waved her off. “She didn’t bring you to the hospital. You showed up there all on your own. Twice, if I understood Marian correctly.”

“I wanted to see her, see how she was doing, that’s all.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest, not missing the way the doctor’s blue eyes strayed to her biceps. “Not that I’m sure it’s any of your business.”

Blue eyes snapped back to hers. “Oh, I see, puppy wants to play.” Zelena glanced outside of the room and down the hall, probably checking for Regina’s return, before stepping fully into the room, letting the door close behind her.

Emma dropped her arms and shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. Zelena didn’t look like a fighter but Emma had no intentions of being taken by surprise.

“Let me make one thing perfectly clear,” Zelena said, her voice lower than it had been. “I’m a doctor. That means I know more about your anatomy than you do. I can make you hurt in ways you’ve never imagined. And believe me when I tell you, if you do anything to hurt Regina, I’ll destroy you, and they will _never_ find your body.”

Emma swallowed thickly. “I have no intention of hurting Regina. That’s the last thing I would ever want to do.”

They heard the front door of the building open and Zelena smirked. “Wonderful. Then we don’t have a problem.” She moved back towards the room’s door and opened it. “Glad we had this little chat.”

And as suddenly as she appeared, she was gone. Emma gave her head a hard shake and heard Regina’s voice in the hallway. She didn’t catch what she said but she heard Zelena’s cackle clearly.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Regina was still shaking her head when she limped back into the room, carrying her things and a couple of beers. She took one glance at Emma, read something in her expression, and asked, “What did Zelena say to you?”

Emma chuckled and ran her hand through her hair. The more she thought about it the funnier it became. Out of all the things in the freaking war to scare her… “Nothing,” she laughed. “She was just being protective.”

Regina didn’t look as though she believed Emma but she handed over a beer. “Big sisters are like that I suppose.”

“What?” Emma was glad she hadn’t taken a drink yet. “She’s your sister?”

“Half, but yeah,” Regina said, taking a seat on the cot. She began undoing the straps on her walking boot. “We didn’t find out about each other until a couple of years ago, so we didn’t grow up together or anything.” She waved at her injured foot. “Until this happened, I would’ve never pegged her as the protective type.”

“Maybe she’s just making up for lost time,” Emma suggested.

“Yeah, maybe,” she said quietly then looked around. “So, uhm, we can go out front and watch a movie if you want.”

“What would you be doing if I wasn’t here?” Emma asked.

“Sleeping,” Regina said automatically, then she shrugged, “or going out with Zelena and drinking myself into oblivion.”

Oblivion sounded nice. “Would it be all right, if we just stay in here and listen to some music?” Emma tucked her hair back as she looked down. “You know, something nice?”

Regina gave her a soft smile. “Sure.”


	12. Chapter 12

When the last notes of Debussy’s "Clair de Lune" faded out, Emma opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she and Regina were both seated on the cot, backs against the wall. She was fairly certain the doctor had finally succumbed to sleep as her head rested on Emma’s shoulder. In the middle of a war, it was a moment of peace that Emma had never expected to find and wasn’t quite sure what to do with. She wished she could see Regina’s face, find out if the woman was ever able to relax if only in sleep.

It seemed it wasn’t possible as the sudden silence awakened Regina as much as an alarm would have. She shifted beside Emma, raised her head and ran a hand over her face. Emma offered her a reassuring smile when she blinked sleepily at the blonde. Regina frowned in response.

Emma took that as her cue. “Well, I should probably be getting back.” She shuffled forward, dropping her feet to the floor, intending to get up.

“It’s late,” Regina said.

Emma glanced at her watch. It wasn’t that late, but they had passed a couple of hours listening to music. She didn’t want to leave; she’d be happy to spend the rest of her war sitting right here, next to Regina. She laughed at herself when the thought flitted through her head that it wouldn’t be a bad way to spend the rest of her life. Moving a little fast there, Swan, she thought. After all, she didn’t know if she’d ever even see Regina again. That thought made her stomach hurt. “Will you write?”

Regina blinked. “What?”

“Will you write to me,” Emma didn’t look at her when she asked. “You know like a couple of actual letters not just the formal ‘I’m fine’ stuff?”

Sleep was finally clearing from Regina’s head and she realized Emma was preparing to leave. She may never see her again. She’d finally felt safe for the first time in months, safe enough that she’d actually fallen asleep on the woman’s shoulder, and she was about to lose that. “Stay.”

Emma’s head whipped up. “What?”

It was Regina’s turn to feel self-conscious. She ducked her head, tucking her hair back. “You should stay. Tonight.” She despised the heat she felt crawling into her cheeks and decided to face it head on. She raised her head and looked directly into green eyes. “Please stay here with me tonight, Emma.”

“Okay,” Emma agreed quickly and without thought. If staying here tonight meant she was AWOL from her barracks or some stupid roll check, she couldn’t care less. What were they going to do? Send her to war?

Regina was relieved at the blonde’s quick agreement but she also felt the need to clarify. “Just to sleep.”

Emma gave her a goofy grin. “Of course.”

“I mean it.”

“Okay.” Emma was still grinning. She held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

That made Regina roll her eyes. “Were you really a scout?”

“I always wanted to be one, if that counts,” Emma replied.

“I suppose it counts.” She watched Emma grab her boots and begin pulling them on. Hadn’t they just settled this? “What are you doing?”

“I need to use the facilities real quick.” Emma stood, then rifled through the pockets of the pants she had hung up. She pulled out a small px bag and held it up, grinning. “Brand new toothbrush.”

Regina laughed at her childlike exuberance. “Out the door, next building on the right.” 

Once the blonde was gone, Regina immediately began to doubt herself. What was she doing? Zelena would laugh herself sick but the idea of letting Emma leave caused her heart to race. And yet, Emma was going to leave. And she’d probably never see her again. Or, gods forbid, if she did see her it would be in the recovery ward of the hospital and Regina didn’t know if she could handle that. She’d already lost two friends to this damned war but, at least, she hadn’t been forced to see Ruby and Graham come through her hospital. Was she really prepared to grow close to another person that could get killed or maimed? Was it already too late?

She didn't realize how long she'd been standing there when the door opened and Emma strolled back in looking inordinately pleased with herself. Her expression fell when she found Regina standing in the exact same position she was in when she left her. “Second thoughts?”

Regina looked at her. “Hmmm?”

“I can still leave if you want,” Emma said, hooking a thumb back towards the door. “I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”

Regina shook her head. Yes, it was definitely too late already. “No, I’d like for you to stay, if you want.”

“O-kay,” Emma shuffled forward, stuffing her things back in the pockets of her hanging pants. She glanced around. “Uhm, I can just crash out on the floor. I mean, I’ve definitely slept on worse.”

Regina chuckled, put at ease by the awkward blonde. “I didn’t ask you to stay to make you sleep on the floor, Emma.” She gestured at the cot. “We can both fit.”

It was clear Emma was trying to keep her relief from showing too much. “So, uh, Doctor Mills, you want to be big spoon or little spoon?”

It was a question for the ages. She likely would have answered differently on any other day. But tonight, the answer was easy. “Little spoon.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It took them a few minutes to get settled. As soon as they laid down the first time, Regina realized it was a mistake to sleep on her left side with all her weight on her bad shoulder. They had to get up and flip to the other end of the cot. Once they were settled again, Regina had never wanted to fall asleep more, but her mind had other plans. Apparently, Emma also had other plans.

“Does it hurt?”

Regina frowned. “My shoulder?” Emma mumbled an affirmative into her hair. “At this point, it’s more of an ache, really.”

“That major lady said you don’t talk about what happened out there.” Emma felt Regina stiffen against her but she remained silent. “I get that. Talking about it makes it real.” She hesitated, leaving the opening if the doctor wanted to take it. She didn’t. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m willing to listen.”

“It’s a war story, Emma,” Regina said quietly into the dark, “and I don’t like war stories.”

“Yeah,” Emma agreed, “but I might be the one person that would really understand. You know, if you’re having conflicting feelings about it or regret.”

“I don’t regret killing him.”

“Oh.” Emma was not entirely convinced the older woman really believed that. “Well, good. You shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t I?” Regina whispered. “I came here to save lives not take them. That man I shot; I _killed_ him. I didn’t just pull the trigger once to defend myself. He didn’t shoot first. I did. And I didn’t stop shooting until I ran out of bullets.” She huffed out a dark laugh. “And then I took his gun from him. He still had bullets left and I wanted to keep my options open.”

Emma frowned; she'd seen Regina collapse minutes after she'd been shot, and yet she'd still had the forethought to grab the bastard's gun. Her entire squad had gossiped and theorized about what had happened in the little hovel. The bastard’s bullet ridden body had told part of the story. “What made you pull the trigger?”

Regina had been waiting for condemnation, waiting for Emma to pull back from her in disgust, expecting the comforting weight of the blonde’s arm over her middle to disappear, but none of those things happened. “He flicked the safety off on his gun.”

Emma nodded; yep, that would’ve done it for her, too.

“We’d been in a silent stand-off all night,” Regina continued quietly. “When the morning came, I suggested we go our separate ways. He knew I was a doctor; he wanted me to stay.”

Emma closed her eyes at the thought. Regina taken as a prisoner of war was the stuff of nightmares. A female officer, a _doctor_ , in the hands of the enemy. Fuck all. _And_ the daughter of a general. The entire countryside would’ve been burned to the ground. And they still probably wouldn’t have gotten her back.

“When I said I wanted options, I had no intention of being taken alive by the enemy," Regina confessed in a whisper. "Every moment I was out there, I was terrified. I’ve been terrified every moment since.”

“Everyone is scared,” Emma replied just as quietly. “If they say they aren’t, they’re lying.”

There was silence between them for a few moments. Emma had felt Regina shudder once against her after she confessed but the tension had left her body, and Emma figured there had been enough truth shared for one night. She tried to relax.

“He was scared, too.”

Emma's eyes popped open.

“I could see it in his eyes,” Regina continued. “I’m not even sure he would’ve shot me.”

“He would have,” Emma said emphatically. “He _did_.”

Regina shook her head. “It was reactionary.”

“No, fuck that.” Emma couldn’t lie there and let her believe that. “Regina, I wish that all of this hadn’t happened to you, I truly do, but you _saved_ lives that night. Maybe it wasn’t with a scalpel and a stethoscope like you usually do, but by killing him, by keeping him occupied all night, you _saved_ lives. He was a killer. The night before-” Fuck. She choked up; she felt Regina about to turn over and held her firmly. “No, please don’t.” It would be easier to talk about without looking into those eyes. “The day before, my best friend was killed right in front of me.”

Regina didn’t try to turn over again but she did take Emma’s hand in hers.

Emma squeezed her hand. “He was killed by a sniper, Regina. A head shot from across the field. Neal was-” Fuck. She never talked about Neal. Never. “Neal was joking with me. He was in the middle of saying something and then he was just dead.” She felt the hot spray of his blood hitting her face. She took a breath. “That little bastard you killed had taken pot shots at us all day. After Neal, he managed to injure two more people. We threw so much firepower at him and then he’d just pop up and shoot at us again. Until he didn’t…until he ran into you.”

“Literally,” Regina said, exhaling. “I’m pretty sure he’s also the one that shot down my medevac chopper. He seemed pretty proud of himself about that until I shoved my gun in his face.”

Charming had theorized that based on what they'd found in the hovel. Emma mentally added a few more deaths to the bastard’s score sheet. Then she went back over what Regina had said. “You shoved your gun in his face?”

“He pissed me off.” Regina smirked but it faded quickly when she remembered why she’d been so upset. “I lost people I cared about out there, too.”

“The pilots?”

Regina nodded. “Ruby and Graham.”

Emma committed their names to her memory. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Regina.”

“Me, too,” she whispered, thinking of Ruby’s infectious smile. It made her think of the goofy grin Emma had given her earlier. “You would’ve liked Ruby.”

Emma shifted, getting more comfortable, stretching her arm out to lay her head on. “Tell me about her?”

Regina waited until Emma settled again then moved until her back was flush against Emma’s front. She sighed at the warmth radiating from the blonde’s body. She didn’t think she’d be awake much longer, but until she fell asleep, she would talk about the friend that she had lost, and try not to think too hard about the one that she had gained.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter for today since this one is a little short.  
> And we'll finish up tomorrow with the conclusion.  
> Hope you enjoy!

_“So, uh, can I maybe see you again?” Emma asked hopefully as she pulled on her boots. They’d spent three nights together, talking quietly in the dark about things they didn’t speak of during dinners in the mess hall, before sleeping peacefully spooned against each other._

_It was early, but Regina had to be at the hospital soon and Emma had a morning formation before her unit returned to combat later that day. She knew it wasn’t likely she’d get another R &R anytime soon, but stranger things had happened. And she’d really like the reassurance of knowing if her presence would be welcomed upon a return._

_Regina opened her mouth, closed it. Her hands balled into fists. “I’m short, Emma.”_

_The blonde blinked, frowned at the non sequitur. Then she understood but decided to play dumb. She stood up and was only an inch or two taller than the brunette. “You’re not that short, Doc.”_

_Regina caught the twinkle in Emma’s eye just before she snapped that the woman’s blonde was showing._

_“How short?” Emma asked, saving her from having to repeat herself._

_“I’ve got three weeks left.”_

_Emma nodded, swallowed thickly. This really would be the last time she’d see the doctor. “Well. Good…that’s good, I’m glad for you.” And she was…but damn. She scuffed her boot against the floor. “You deserve to get out of this place.”_

_Regina took a step closer at the vulnerability in Emma’s expression. “I wanted to tell you in case…in case my letters take a bit longer to get to you.”_

_The warm, slow smile appeared on the blonde soldier’s face. “You’ll really write to me?”_

_She’d have to steel herself to do it every time but yes, if it made Emma that happy just to think about receiving letters, Regina would definitely write. “I’ll write,” she said, held up a finger, “with one condition.”_

_Emma was prepared to do a lot to maintain contact with the doctor. “Name it.”_

_“It will not be a one-sided correspondence, dear.”_

_“Deal.” Emma grinned then bent over to finish tying her boots. “Are you leaving to go be a doctor in some big city?”_

_“No.” Regina shook her head, gestured absently. “At least, not right away. I…I need a break from…” she trailed off. It wasn’t necessary to explain. “I’m going home.”_

_“Where’s home?”_

_“My father owns a ranch,” she said, tucking some hair behind her ears, “in a little town in Maine. I used to spend my summers there.”_

_“That sounds nice.” Emma nodded then noticed the slight coloring in Regina’s cheeks. It intrigued her. “This little town have a name?”_

_Regina cleared her throat. Every time she told someone the name of her hometown they inevitably laughed. “Storybrooke.”_

_“That sounds…nice.”_

_Regina could hear the strain in Emma’s voice as she tried not to laugh. Her face went through several twitches as she controlled her expression. Feeling slightly evil about it, Regina added, “It’s a hidden gem, really. Very picturesque…almost like a fairy tale.”_

_Emma snorted, tried to recover and shook a finger at Regina. “Now you’re doing it on purpose.” She felt like she could die happy with the rare grin she saw on the doctor’s face. She hated to break the moment but she was all out of ways to stall. “I guess this is it then.”_

_Regina sobered and nodded. “I guess so.”_

_“Since I don’t know when I’ll see you again.” Emma closed the distance between them, placed her hands on the side of Regina’s face, and bent to kiss her. She paused, a hair’s breadth distance from the doctor’s lips; she could feel their breath mingling for a second, allowing Regina the escape if she wanted it. Regina surged forward; their mouths meeting for the first and possibly last time._

_It had been awhile, but Emma knew how to kiss. She knew just how much pressure to exert, and if she had read Regina right at all, she knew the woman wanted more. She pulled back just enough to nibble on Regina’s lip and her mouth dropped open allowing Emma entrance. Emma pulled their bodies tight together as her tongue swept inside. Regina sucked on it and Emma couldn’t help the way her hips jerked in response. Emma learned quickly that the doctor had an evil, throaty chuckle that did very naughty things to her libido._

_Reluctantly, Emma pulled back when she needed breath. Regina discreetly wiped the corner of her mouth as they stepped away from each other._

_“Well,” Emma cleared her throat, “maybe I’ll see you around sometime.” Brown eyes followed her as she reached for the door. She almost missed the whispered reply._

_“Perhaps.”_

8 Months Later

“Agron, cookies,” Regina called, standing in the middle of the white fenced off paddock. She’d been working with the same yearling for a couple of weeks. He was ornery and although he knew his name, he pretended not to hear her. She knew this because she could see him from where she was standing; she saw his ears flick when she called.

She was training a trio of yearlings but Agron was her problem child. He required extra attention and she wanted less attitude. She’d already turned Argo and Albion out to pasture so it was just the two of them in the paddock. “Come on, Agron,” she cajoled as she walked towards him. “It’s a beautiful day. Don’t you want to go for a walk? Get out and see some new things?”

Regina stopped a few feet from him and tried again. “Agron, cookies.” She held out her hand with the treats she knew he favored. He eyed her for a long moment before finally taking a slow, measured step towards her. She clicked her tongue at him and he finally took the remaining three steps to get his treat. She shook her head at him when he nuzzled her looking for more. “Oh, now you like me, huh?” 

She moved away from him several more times, lengthening her distance each time, and making him come to her when she called. “All right, all right,” she said, stroking his muzzle. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

Regina took the young horse by the lead rope out to the ranch’s training trail. He walked beside her over the plywood and across the small bridge with no problem; a great achievement from the previous week when those things had been new to him. She had a few new things out on the trail for him to see and experience today including a bright purple exercise ball that was not being of use to anyone inside the house. They went out on the trail for over an hour and then took the long way back, walking side-by-side along the dusty driveway that led up to the main house.

The driveway was old hat for Agron now, it never changed, and she didn’t have to worry quite as much about him as they meandered back. It allowed Regina time to let her thoughts drift and despite the many things she had going at the ranch, she inevitably thought of Emma.

It had been three months since she’d heard from the blonde. One month wasn’t all that unusual. She’d go for weeks with no word and then receive four or five letters at a time. At the two month mark, however, she’d started to become increasingly worried. After all, it wasn’t like _she_ would be notified if anything happened to the blonde. If the worst happened, one of the men in her unit _might_ think to write, assuming any of them survived.

After ten weeks with no word, Regina had her father check the killed in action rosters for Emma’s name.

At eleven weeks, she had him check the missing in action rosters.

He never found her name.

Yesterday morning, Regina had written out three short letters. One letter each to a Hook Jones, Sergeant Charming, and Corpsman Henry. She had no idea what their real or full names were but she hoped the same unit address that Emma used would see the mail reach them. She just needed to know _something_. If Emma was fine and simply no longer interested in corresponding with her, Regina would be pissed.

Relieved. But pissed.

The slam of a car door drew her attention and Regina noticed as she got closer to the house that there seemed to be a few people hanging out on the front porch. It wasn’t unusual. People were always coming and going from the ranch, families of the ranch hands, trail ride groups, boarders, friends of her father. She waved absently in their general direction and veered off to the right so she could take Agron back to his area of the stables. She spent another good hour with him, brushing him down, checking him over, and basically awarding him with her affection.

She’d thought she was alone in the stables until she heard a throat clear from behind her. “What’s a girl got to do to get that kind of attention?”

The brush fell from Regina’s suddenly limp fingers. She spun around, breath catching in her throat at the sight in front of her. “Em-ma.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the conclusion. Thank you all so much for reading!   
> I hope you enjoyed it!

“Hi.”

Regina took an involuntary step forward. She blinked, staring openly at the blonde who offered her a sheepish grin that was slowly fading.

Emma ducked her head, shuffled a bit, using her forearm crutches. “I, uh…know I’m not what you expected.”

Regina could’ve slapped herself for staring. She knew better, but honestly, she hadn’t been staring at Emma because of her obvious injury. She’d been staring because she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, that Emma was standing there, in Maine, in her father’s stables.

She strode forward and wrapped her arms around Emma so tight she elicited a squeak. She felt the blonde struggling to maintain her precarious balance, but she couldn’t bear to let her go. “I’ve got you,” she whispered, “I’ve got you.”

They must’ve been the right words to say because she suddenly felt more of Emma’s weight against her body as the blonde’s arms wrapped around her in return. It was only then, Regina allowed the sob to escape that had been trapped in her throat since she first heard that voice. “Oh, God, I thought I had lost you.”

“It’s okay; I’m okay, Regina,” Emma murmured. She could feel the brunette trembling against her and she hopped a little to keep some of her weight in check. Regina slapped the back of her head with one hand. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You scared me, Miss Swan!” Regina hissed. “When I didn’t hear from you, I thought the worst had happened. I thought you’d been killed. And then when my father didn’t find your name, I thought I’d been wrong. The worst would be if you were missing in action. And I didn’t know if I’d ever find out what happened to you or where you were. I had nightmares…” she was rambling now and she knew it. She clamped down on her runaway mouth and just held on to the blonde.

“I’m sorry, Regina,” Emma said, rubbing her hand up and down the doctor’s back in what she hoped was a soothing motion. “I’m so sorry. It wasn’t anything like that, I promise. I’d never mean to make you worry.”

Finally, feeling a bit more in control of herself, Regina leaned back. She moved slowly and carefully, keeping her hands on Emma’s hips until the blonde had her crutches back on the ground. She swiped at the tears soaking her face. The obvious question was on the tip of her tongue as they both looked down.

“We were out on patrol,” Emma said, clearing her throat. “I stepped in the wrong place.”

Regina took in Emma’s below the knee amputation of her right leg with a more clinical eye. Emma was wearing pants that were cut off on the right so she couldn’t see skin, but she saw no obvious muscle loss in the thigh area. “An IED?”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “I was lucky though. It only partially detonated. Could’ve been worse.”

Regina flinched at the possibility. She knew her nightmares had just gained more fodder. “Was anyone else hurt?”

“Hook caught some shrapnel in his hand but he was all right.”

Emma wasn’t looking at her as she spoke, her head was down, obviously feeling self-conscious. “Well.” Regina cleared her throat. “ _Your_ hands appear to be uninjured.”

Emma frowned, looked up then back down to where her hands were supporting her on the crutches. “Uhm, yeah, it was just my foot that got hurt.”

“I see,” Regina sniffed. It took true effort on her part to sound anything but delighted at seeing the blonde. The happiness that had burst in her chest wasn’t ready to be ignored yet. “So, you didn’t lose the ability to write then?” When she heard Emma’s relieved chuckle, she ducked her head to hide her grin.

“I knew I was going to be in trouble for that,” Emma admitted, “and I do have a story to explain myself.”

Openly faking her scorn, Regina narrowed her eyes. “Make it good, Miss Swan.”

Emma shivered. “You have no idea how much I missed that sexy voice of yours, Doctor Mills.” When the brunette only arched an eyebrow, she cleared her throat. “Well, after the, uh,” she gestured at her missing leg, “incident, I kind of, lost my pants.”

Regina almost doubted her feigned anger when she realized that somehow Emma’s story for not writing revolved around her injury. But the blonde didn’t seem upset, so she said, “Continue.”

“Right. Uh, your most recent letters were in my pants pocket, cause I kind of kept them with me at all times, so I could, you know, reread them.”

Regina knew how that was. She practically had the letters Emma had written her memorized.

“And while I could tell you everything you wrote in the letters almost word for word,” Emma continued, “I didn’t have your address memorized. And your other letters were in my pack, but gods only know where that thing is by now. I mean, allegedly, it’s being shipped to me, but I didn’t really want to wait that long to come see you.” She was rambling a little. “And even though I didn’t have your address memorized, I did remember the name of your hometown, and I may have searched for the ranch you mentioned. Thankfully, there’s only one ranch owned by Enrique Mills in Storybrooke, Maine.” She gestured haphazardly over her shoulder towards the main house. “I’ve been sitting on your front porch for a good three hours. They kept telling me you’d be back eventually.”

Regina was floored that Emma had traveled all the way out to Maine just for a chance to see her. If the idiot had found their website, she could have just called. It was on the tip of her tongue to point that out, but the hopeful look on Emma’s face had her swallowing the unnecessarily snarky reply. After all, a visit in person was wholly more satisfying, so really, who was she to complain that the blonde didn’t seem to know how to work a telephone. She cleared her throat. “That _is_ a good story, Miss Swan.”

Emma beamed, then asked hopefully, “Does that mean you forgive me?”

“Perhaps.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I got a letter from Hook the other day,” Emma said, sitting at the ranch’s kitchen table while Regina made them both cups of coffee. “Charming got really sick and sent to the rear for treatment.”

“Oh?” Regina asked. It wasn’t good news and yet Emma sounded almost giddy.

“Yeah, he got sent to your hospital, and apparently, he is head over heels in love with one of the volunteers.”

“No.”

“Oh yes,” Emma laughed. “He was short anyway and now because of this new love, he’s wrangled a job in the rear helping out in the kitchens until his time is up.”

“I’m sure Leroy loves that,” Regina deadpanned. “Do you know who the girl is?”

“According to Hook, Charming described her as having skin as pale as snow, lips as red as the rose, and hair the color of night,” Emma sang the praises in a bard’s voice. Regina grimaced. “His only complaint is that her hair is too short but she’s promised to grow it out once they come home.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Regina said, sitting the cups down on the table and then sinking into the opposite chair. “I wonder if he means Mary Margaret.”

“Was she that chirpy twit with the really short hair?” Emma asked, dumping sugar into her drink.

Regina winced at how much sugar the blonde used. “Yes, she’s the only one I can think of that would even remotely match his lurid description.”

Emma shrugged. “Probably her then.”

They sipped their drinks and stole glances at each other across the table. Minutes after Emma’s explanation, Agron had begun to kick up a fuss at being ignored. In short order, Regina had turned him loose to pasture and suggested they make their way up to the main house. She’d pointed out horses she’d raised or been working with as she saw them. Emma had asked curious questions as her head was on a swivel looking all around.

“This is certainly better than our last cup of coffee,” Emma said, breaking the silence. Then her face flushed, “Oh, I’m sorry, that was probably a stupid thing to say. You probably don’t want to talk…I shouldn’t-”

“You’re right.” She paused just long enough for Emma to worry, then smirked, “This coffee is _much_ better.”

Emma exhaled and threw a napkin at the brunette. “Shit, Mills, you just about gave me a heart attack.” She slumped back in her chair, catching her balance. “So, what are you doing out here anyway?”

“What do you mean?” Regina set her cup down.

“While I was waiting for you on the porch,” Emma said with emphasis.

“For three hours,” Regina interrupted. “Yes, you mentioned that.”

Emma continued, “Well, they said you’ve been out here every day, all day, working with the horses.”

Regina nodded, frowning slightly. “Yes, I have. What of it?”

The blonde toyed with her empty mug. “What about, I mean, you’re a doctor, Regina. Why aren’t you, you know, doing that somewhere?”

Oh, right. That. Her mother had been furious when Regina had returned home and still spurned the fancy hospitals her mother had lined up. She wasn’t sure her mother would ever get over it this time. She wasn’t sure she cared.

“I don’t think…” her voice caught. “I don’t think I am anymore, actually.”

Emma frowned. “You don’t think you aren’t, what?”

“A doctor,” Regina clarified. “It’s not…I don’t think I can do it.” She rubbed absently at her scarred shoulder. “Being over there, seeing the things I saw, doing the things I did…”

“This isn’t about him, is it?” Emma asked, a hard note creeping into her voice. “Because, Regina, you can’t let that, you can’t let him ruin your life.”

Regina reached across the table and took Emma’s hand. “It’s not about that.” At Emma’s hard look, she rolled her eyes. “It’s not _entirely_ about that.” And it wasn’t. She rubbed her thumb over the back of Emma’s hand, noticing a few pock-marked scars that she hadn’t noticed before. Had they always been there or were they new? “I’ve dealt in enough blood for multiple lifetimes.” She gave the blonde a small smile. “Dirt washes out a lot easier.”

That felt like a fair point, but, “You worked so hard for it though,” Emma argued. She’d only graduated high school; she couldn’t imagine how difficult the rest of Regina’s schooling must have been.

“Yes, I did,” Regina agreed easily because she had worked hard for it. “But it wasn’t what I ever wanted. Not really.”

“Oh.” Emma was surprised. That little detail had never come up in their letters. “Then why did you do it?”

Regina cleared her throat. “It’s what mother wanted.”

Ah. There had been mentions of Regina’s mother in their exchanged letters, and there had been definite undertones that suggested a controlling, if not, abusive relationship. Reading between the lines, Emma’s instinct had been to not like the woman. Now she felt even more justified in her thoughts.

She caught brown eyes watching her closely, and Emma realized there was apprehension in Regina’s gaze. Was Regina really worried that Emma wouldn’t like her because she wasn’t a doctor? She caught Regina’s hand and brought it to her lips giving it a gentle kiss. When she lowered it back to the table, she saw Regina relax.

“I guess there’s only one question left then,” Emma said, grinning, “what do _you_ want to do, Regina?”

Dark, loose hair fell forward, framing her face as she ducked her head. “This.”

“This?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Regina looked up; she was smiling. “I want to hold your hand and get to know you. I want to sit across the table from you and talk over coffee or dinner.” She gestured towards the barn with her free hand. “I want to train and take care of horses. I want to run this ranch.”

Emma loved how happy the brunette looked as she spoke about the things she wanted to do, and she was glad she’d been included but…she shifted on her chair, very aware of her missing leg. She wasn’t quite sure where she would fit into such a life as the one Regina described.

“What about you?” Regina asked. “What do you want?”

“Hmm?” Emma had been lost in thought and at Regina’s raised eyebrow she felt her face grow warm. “Oh, uhm, well, I don’t know really. I didn’t think I’d make it through the war much less worry about what would come next.” She absently rubbed at her thigh. “I’ve never really fit in anywhere until I became a soldier. And, now, I don’t know what I can do, really. I mean…” She cleared her throat then caught those dark eyes regarding her from across the table. She ran her hand through her hair and chuckled nervously. “What?”

Regina folded her arms on the table and leaned closer. “Do you know anything about horses, Emma?”

Emma felt like she’d forgotten to study for a test. She shook her head. “No, not really.”

“Hmm,” Regina smiled like the cat that caught the canary. “Then I’m guessing you don’t know that horses are excellent therapy animals.”

Emma literally felt her jaw drop. “What?!”

“Mmm-hmmm.” She sat back, appearing very satisfied with herself. “Daddy has been wanting to open a training and rehabilitation course for veterans here on the ranch for years. He’s even got two horses already picked out that he thinks are the perfect temperament. He’s just been wary of asking anyone to come out and try an untested program.”

“But…but…”

“Are you always this articulate?” Regina smirked then stood, gathering their cups and walking to the sink.

Emma blinked and realized she was alone at the table. She twisted in her seat to watch Regina rinse out their cups at the sink. “I don’t even know how to ride!”

“I can teach you,” Regina assured her. “And who knows, maybe after a while, we can have conversation over breakfast.” She dropped a quick kiss to Emma’s head. “Think about it.”

Emma stared after the brunette, too lost in watching the woman strut out of the kitchen to realize she was being left. She scrambled for her crutches and moved as fast as she could, chasing after the doctor. “Will that be breakfast in bed?”

A sultry chuckle floated back to her and Emma grinned. 


End file.
